Angiosperms (Flowering Plants) • Earth.com

Needletip Trumpets

(Acleisanthes acutifolia)

galery
en

Description

Acleisanthes is a genus of flowering plants in the Bougainvillea family, Nyctaginaceae. There are currently 16 species. The generic name is derived from the Greek words ακλειοτος (akleistos), meaning "not closed", and ανθος (anthos), meaning "flower". Plants of this genus are known commonly as trumpets due to the elongated, open-ended shape of their flowers. These are arid-adapted perennials with thick taproots which are usually compact and low to the ground or slightly ascending. An individual plant may have cleistogamous (unopening and self-pollinating) flowers as well as opening flowers which are usually nocturnal as a water-saving adaptation and are pollinated by night-flying or crepuscular insects such as hawkmoths. Flowers are usually white, sometimes yellow. These plants are native to the Chihuahuan and Sonoran Deserts of Mexico and the United States.

Taxonomic tree:

Domain:
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order:Caryophyllales
Family:Nyctaginaceae
Genus:Acleisanthes
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