Houttuynia

{{short description|Genus of flowering plants in the family Saururaceae}}

{{one source|date=November 2024}}

{{Automatic taxobox

|image = Houttuynia_cordata.jpg

|image_caption = Houttuynia cordata

|taxon = Houttuynia

|authority = Thunb.

|subdivision_ranks = Species

|subdivision = *Houttuynia cordata

• Houttuynia emeiensis

}}

Houttuynia is a genus of two species in the Saururaceae native to Southeast Asia. One species, H. cordata, is widely cultivated as a culinary herb. The genus was originally described in 1783 by Carl Peter Thunberg when he formally described H. cordata as the only species. It remained a monotypic genus until 2001 when Zheng Yin Zhu and Shi Liang Zhang discovered and described a second species native to China, H. emeiensis but the validity still unestablished.Wu Wei, Zheng Youliang, Chen Li, Wei Yuming, Yan Zehong, and Yang Ruiwu. 2005. [https://archive.today/20120919153457/http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/118734875/ PCR-RFLP analysis of cpDNA and mtDNA in the genus Houttuynia in some areas of China.] Hereditas 142: 24-32. It was named after Dutch naturalist Martinus Houttuyn.