PlantaeDB Logo
Login Sign-up

Genus Bredia in Family Melastomataceae

In botanical taxonomy, a genus (plural genera) is a rank used to group closely related species within a family. In the hierarchy, genus sits below family and above species.

Genera are defined by shared morphological, anatomical, and genetic characteristics (for example, features of flowers, fruits, seeds, or leaves) that indicate a close evolutionary relationship among the species they contain.

Each genus can include one or more species. Examples include Rosa (roses) and Solanum (nightshades, including tomato and eggplant).

Do you wish to read more about plant taxonomy? Click here!

Genus Description

Suggest a correction!

Bredia is a small East Asian genus in the family Melastomataceae. About fifteen species are currently accepted (POWO, 2024; WFO, 2024; GBIF, 2024), with a type not formally designated in standard references. The plants are woody herbs to subshrubs with opposite, decussate leaves, acrodromous venation, and usually scabrid–strigillose indumentum. Cymes are terminal or axillary, and the tetramerous or pentamerous flowers have showy petals, poricidal anthers, and a superior ovary with axile placentation. The fruit is a capsule that dehisces along the partitions, and the seeds are small and angular (Clausing, 2000).

The center of diversity is mainland China, with additional species in Taiwan, Vietnam, and the Ryukyus (China Plant Checklist, 2010; HSU Herbarium, 2003). Species occur from lowland forest margins and streamsides to mid-elevations, with many restricted to warm-temperate to subtropical biomes; the pattern is characteristic of Sino-Japanese disjunction, with some taxa endemic to islands or mountainous massifs. The floral morphology and poricidal anthers indicate Melastoma-type buzz pollination, although direct observations for the genus are limited; fruits are dehiscent capsules, and seeds are likely wind-dispersed given the general syndrome in the family (Clausing, 2000). Base chromosome number x=9 is widely reported in Melastomataceae, and counts within Bredia are consistent with this (Clausing, 2000).

While earlier authors recognized sections within Bredia, recent phylogenetic work places the genus within the core Dissochaeta alliance and has prompted re-circumscriptions, including transfer of some Bredia species to Sonerila and Scorpiothyrsus, and the inclusion of former Antherolepis species in Bredia (Liu et al., 2013; Golden et al., 2022). This realignment explains the variation in habit and leaf venation across the genus and leaves the boundaries less stable where Sonerila and Bredia meet (Almeda et al., 2016). Some species remain accepted in Bredia in East Asia, while others are treated as synonyms or recombined in regional treatments, reflecting ongoing taxonomic consolidation (POWO, 2024; WFO, 2024).

Human relevance is limited to occasional horticulture; Bredia hirsuta and a few Bredia taxa are cultivated in shade gardens or as container subjects, and several species areWeedy and sometimes collected from the wild, though none are major invasives. Conservation concerns focus on habitat loss in lowland and secondary forests and the need for population assessments in narrow endemics. Ongoing integration of molecular and morphological data is clarifying species limits and sectional structure within the East Asian clade (Liu et al., 2013; Golden et al., 2022).

Pick a Species to see its components: