Ottoa

{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}}

{{Distinguish|Ottawa}}

{{Speciesbox

|image =

|image_caption =

|display_parents = 3

|genus = Ottoa

|parent_authority = Kunth

|species = oenanthoides

|authority = Kunth

|synonyms_ref = {{cite POWO |id=845589-1 |title=Ottoa oenanthoides Kunth |access-date=6 November 2021}}

|synonyms = {{species list

|Oenanthe quitensis |Spreng.

|Ottoa oenanthoides subvar. major |Wedd.

|Ottoa oenanthoides var. major |(Wedd.) Mathias & Constance }}

}}

Ottoa is a monotypic genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Apiaceae.{{cite web |title=Ottoa Kunth {{!}} Plants of the World Online {{!}} Kew Science |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:40326-1 |website=Plants of the World Online |access-date=19 May 2021 |language=en}} It only contains one known species, Ottoa oenanthoides.

Its native range is from southern Mexico to Venezuela and Ecuador. It is also found in Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Panamá.

The genus name of Ottoa is in honour of Christoph Friedrich Otto (1783–1856), a German gardener and botanist.{{cite book | last=Burkhardt | first=Lotte | title=Verzeichnis eponymischer Pflanzennamen – Erweiterte Edition |trans-title=Index of Eponymic Plant Names – Extended Edition | publisher=Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum, Freie Universität Berlin | year=2018 | isbn=978-3-946292-26-5 | url=https://doi.org/10.3372/epolist2018 |format=pdf |language=German |location=Berlin | doi=10.3372/epolist2018 |access-date=1 January 2021}} The Latin specific epithet of oenanthoides means one that resembles a member of the genus Oenanthe.

Both the genus and the species were first described and published in F.W.H.von Humboldt, A.J.A.Bonpland & C.S.Kunth, Nov. Gen. Sp. Vol.5 on page 20 in 1821.

Essential oils have been extracted by hydrodistillation methods from leaves and roots of Otto.{{cite journal |last1=Rojas |first1=Janne |last2=Díaz |first2=Alexis Alberto Buitrago |last3=Rojas |first3=Luis B. |last4=Morales |first4=Antonio |last5=Baldovino |first5=Shirley |title=Chemical Composition of the Essential Oil of Leaves and Roots of Ottoa oenanthoides (Apiaceae) from Merida, Venezuela |journal=Natural Product Communications |date=July 2010 |volume=5 |issue=7 |pages=1115–1116|doi=10.1177/1934578X1000500728 |pmid=20734953 }}