Cameraria is a small genus of flowering plants in the dogbane family, Apocynaceae, placed in the order Gentianales. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753, in the first edition of Species Plantarum. The genus comprises about eight accepted species of shrubs and trees, all confined to the Caribbean basin: southern Mexico (Tabasco and the Yucatán Peninsula), Belize, Guatemala, Cuba, Hispaniola (the Dominican Republic and Haiti), and Jamaica. Several species are narrow island or regional endemics — for example, Cameraria angustifolia is restricted to the Dominican Republic, while C. microphylla, C. obovalis, and C. orientensis are each known only from small areas of Cuba.
The type species, Cameraria latifolia, has the broadest range of the genus, occurring from southeastern Mexico through Central America and across several Caribbean islands, and has additionally become naturalized well outside its native range in Guangdong Province, southern China.
A point of taxonomic confusion is worth noting for anyone researching the genus: the name "Cameraria" is a homonym. In addition to this Apocynaceae plant genus, GBIF's taxonomic backbone also carries an entirely unrelated genus of leaf-mining moths called Cameraria in the family Gracillariidae — most famously Cameraria ohridella, the horse-chestnut leaf miner. The moth genus and the plant genus share only their name; they are not related taxonomically and searches for "Cameraria" frequently surface material about the insect rather than the plant.
Distribution
Native to southern Mexico, Central America, and the West Indies (Belize, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Haiti, and Jamaica). The type species, Cameraria latifolia, has also become naturalized in Guangdong Province, China.
Taxonomy Notes
First described by Linnaeus in 1753 (Species Plantarum 1: 210); GBIF's accepted backbone placement is family Apocynaceae, order Gentianales. The name Cameraria is a homonym shared with an unrelated genus of leaf-mining moths (family Gracillariidae, e.g. Cameraria ohridella, the horse-chestnut leaf miner) — the two are entirely different organisms with no taxonomic relationship.
