Pitraea

{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}}

{{Automatic taxobox

|image =

|image_caption =

|taxon = Pitraea

|authority = Turcz.

|synonyms_ref = {{cite POWO |id=864124-1 |title=Pitraea cuneato-ovata (Cav.) Caro |access-date=15 November 2021}}

|synonyms = {{species list

|Bouchea copiapensis Gay

|Castelia cuneato-ovata |Cav.

|Phelloderma cuneato-ovata |(Cav.) Miers

|Pitraea chilensis |Turcz.

|Priva cuneato-ovata |(Cav.) Rusby

|Priva laevis |Juss.

|Priva orchidioides |Walp.

|Verbena lobelioides |Graham

|Verbena orchioides |Walp.

|Verbena tuberosa |Graham }}

}}

Pitraea is a monotypic genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Verbenaceae.{{cite web |title=Pitraea Turcz. {{!}} Plants of the World Online {{!}} Kew Science |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:41376-1 |website=Plants of the World Online |access-date=20 May 2021 |language=en}} It only contains one known species, Pitraea cuneato-ovata (Cav.) Caro

Its native range is southern South America. It is found in (north-eastern and north-western) Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, (central and northern) Chile and Peru.

The genus name of Pitraea is in honour of Adolf Samoilovich Pitra (1830–1889), a Russian professor of botany in Kharkiv.{{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 genus has 2 known synonyms; Castelia {{small|Cav.}} and Phelloderma {{small|Miers}}.

The Latin specific epithet of cuneato-ovata is derived from cuneate meaning wedge-shaped and ovate from ovum meaning.{{cite book | last=Harrison |first=Lorraine | title=RHS Latin for Gardeners | year=2012 |publisher=Mitchell Beazley | location=United Kingdom | isbn=978-1845337315 }} The genus was first described and published in Bull. Soc. Imp. Naturalistes Moscou Vol.35 (II) on page 328 in 1862. Then the species was published in Kurtziana Vol.1 on page 274 in 1961.