Vicoa

{{Automatic_taxobox

|image = Pentanema indicum — Dinesh Valke 001.jpg

|image_caption = Vicoa indica (formerly Pentanema indicum)

|taxon = Vicoa

|authority = Cass.

|type_species =

|type_species_authority = Cass.

}}

Vicoa is a genus of flowering plants belonging to elecampane tribe within the Asteraceae (sunflower family).{{cite web |title=Vicoa Cass. {{!}} Plants of the World Online {{!}} Kew Science |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:11474-1 |website=Plants of the World Online |access-date=6 January 2022 |language=en}} It is found in parts of Africa and stretching across Asia to Indochina. It was described by Alexandre Henri Gabriel de Cassini (Cass.) in 1829, but the genus was later absorbed into the Pentanema genus (also within the Asteraceae family). Until molecular analysis in 2018, determined it was a separate genus.

Description

They are annual or perennial herbs,Gyanendra Pandey (Sri Satguru Publications, 1994) {{google books|HhrbAAAAMAAJ|Uncommon Plant Drugs of Ayurveda|page=71}} with simple (undivided or unsegmented),James P. Mandaville {{google books|AaFFAAAAQBAJ|Flora Of Eastern Saudi Arabia (2013)|page=291}} or entire (not divided) leaves. The leaves are arranged alternate (at different levels along the stem), with pinnately veining (lateral veins are arranged either side of the main vein) and they are mostly amplexicaule (the base is dilated and clasping the stem) at the base.

They have flowers which have solitary, radiate heads (ray floret surrounding disc florets), which are either axillary (beside a leaf joint) or leaf opposed. They have a peduncle (flower stalk), and involucral bracts which are inbricate (overlapping) in several rows.

The achenes (one-seeded indehiscent fruit) are subterete (partially circular in cross-section) with a pappus (a tuft or ring of hairs or scales borne above the ovary) of unequal bristles.

Known species

There are about 14 accepted species;

{{linked species list

|Vicoa albertoregelia |C.Winkl.

|Vicoa cernua |Dalzell

|Vicoa chodzhakasiani |(Kinzik.) Nabiev

|Vicoa discoidea |(Nabiev) Kamelin

|Vicoa glanduligera |Krasch.

|Vicoa indica |(L.) DC.

|Vicoa krascheninnikovii |Kamelin

|Vicoa lignea |(Mesfin) D.Gut.Larr., Santos-Vicente, Anderb., E.Rico & M.M.Mart.Ort.

|Vicoa multicaulis |(Boiss.) Benth. & Hook.f.

|Vicoa parietarioides |Nevski

|Vicoa propinqua |Nevski

|Vicoa rupicola |Krasch.

|Vicoa varzobica |(Kamelin & Kinzik.) Nabiev

|Vicoa vestita |(Wall. ex DC.) Benth. ex Hook.f. }}

Some species are still to be accepted, such as Vicoa gokhalei from India.{{cite journal |last1=Gosavi |first1=Kumar Vinod Chhotupuri |last2=Madhav |first2=Nilesh Appaso |last3=Chandore |first3=Arun Nivrutti |last4=Kambale |first4=Sharad Suresh |last5=Yadav |first5=Shrirang Ramchandra |title=Vicoa gokhalei (Inuleae, Asteraceae), a new species from the northern Western Ghats, India |journal=Phytotaxa |date=17 November 2020 |volume=471 |issue=3 |page=11 |doi=10.11646/phytotaxa.471.3.11|s2cid=228809223 }}

Taxonomy

The genus name of Vicoa is in honour of Giambattista Vico (1668–1744), an Italian philosopher, rhetorician, historian, and jurist during the Italian Enlightenment.{{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 | s2cid=187926901 |access-date=1 January 2021}} It was first described and published in Ann. Sci. Nat. (Paris) Vol.17 on page 418 in 1829.

It was then absorbed into the genus of Pentanema, until in 2018, the Vicoa genus was re-established due to molecular analysis of the Pentanema genus.Gutierrez-Larruscain, D., Vicente, M.S., Anderberg, A.A., Rico, E. & Martínez-Ortega, M.M. (2018) "Phylogeny of the Inula group (Asteraceae: Inuleae): Evidence from nuclear and plastid genomes and a recircumscription of Pentanema". Taxon 67 (1): 149–164.

Range

It is native to parts of Africa and Asia. From the island of Cape Verde, (Macaronesia), then the African countries of; Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Parts of Western Asia; Afghanistan and Iran. Central Asia; Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. China; south-central and southeast China and Tibet. Indian subcontinent; East Himalaya, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and West Himalaya. Lastly, parts of Indochina; Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

Uses

Some species such as Vicoa indica have used in folk medicine, in the Himalayas.C.P. Khare {{google books|gMwLwbUwtfkC|Indian Medicinal Plants: An Illustrated Dictionary (2008)|page=703}}H. Panda {{google books|CPXKAgAAQBAJ|Compendium of Herbal Plants: Business Ideas for Herbal Plants Compendium ... |page=179}} The roots were used to treat kidney troubles and the leaves were used for stomach problems.N. P. Singh {{google books|6-g-nU3bTjcC|Flora of Eastern Karnataka, Volume 1 (1988)|page=385}}