Myrothamnus

{{Short description|Genus of shrubs}}

{{Automatic taxobox

|image = Myrothamnaceae Myrothamnus flabellifolia.png

|image_caption = M. flabellifoliaMyrothamnus flabellifolia, illustration from Vegetation der Erde (1915) v. 9 Band III, Heft 1. Fig. 187. by Adolf Engler (1844-1930)

|parent_authority = Nied.

|taxon = Myrothamnus

|authority = Welw.

|subdivision_ranks = Species

|subdivision = * Myrothamnus flabellifolius

• Myrothamnus moschata

}}

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Myrothamnus is a genus of flowering plants, consisting of two species{{cite journal |author1=Christenhusz, M. J. M. |author2=Byng, J. W. |name-list-style=amp | year = 2016 | title = The number of known plants species in the world and its annual increase | journal = Phytotaxa | volume = 261 | pages = 201–217 | url = http://biotaxa.org/Phytotaxa/article/download/phytotaxa.261.3.1/20598 | doi = 10.11646/phytotaxa.261.3.1 | issue = 3 | doi-access = free }} of small xerophytic shrubs, in the southern parts of tropical Africa and in Madagascar. Myrothamnus is recognized as the only genus in the family Myrothamnaceae.

Myrothamnaceae was included in the order Hamamelidales in the Cronquist system.{{cite book

| last = Cronquist

| first = Arthur

| author-link = Arthur Cronquist

| title = An integrated system of classification of flowering plants

| url = https://archive.org/details/integratedsystem0000cron

| url-access = registration

| publisher = Columbia University Press

| year = 1981

| isbn = 978-0-231-03880-5

}} Molecular systematic studies have suggested that Myrothamnus is not closely related to Hamamelidaceae nor any other family included in that order, but rather is closely related to the morphologically very different Gunnera. In the APG II system (2003) the genus is assigned to family Gunneraceae or to the optionally recognized segregate family Myrothamnaceae.{{cite journal

| author = THE ANGIOSPERM PHYLOGENY GROUP

| author-link = Angiosperm Phylogeny Group

| title = An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG II

| journal = Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society

| volume = 141

| issue = 4

| pages = 399–436

| date = April 2003

| doi = 10.1046/j.1095-8339.2003.t01-1-00158.x

}} In the APG III system (2009) and APG IV system (2016) the narrower circumscription is preferred, and these two families are considered distinct.

{{cite journal

| author = THE ANGIOSPERM PHYLOGENY GROUP

| author-link = Angiosperm Phylogeny Group

| title = An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG III

| journal = Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society

| volume = 161

| issue = 2

| pages = 105–121

| date = October 29, 2009

| doi = 10.1111/j.1095-8339.2009.00996.x

| doi-access = free

| hdl = 10654/18083

| hdl-access = free

}}{{Cite journal|author=Angiosperm Phylogeny Group |author-link=Angiosperm Phylogeny Group|year=2016|title=An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG IV|journal=Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society|volume=181|issue=1|pages=1–20|issn=0024-4074|doi=10.1111/boj.12385|doi-access=free}}