Melochia is a genus of approximately 54 species of flowering plants in the mallow family, Malvaceae, placed in the order Malvales. The genus was formally described by Dillenius and published by Carl Linnaeus in Species Plantarum (1753), under the authorship Dill. ex L. Species in this genus are herbs, shrubs, and small trees found across the tropical and subtropical regions of the world, with a distribution spanning from India through Malesia and the Pacific Islands to the Americas and the Caribbean.
The genus was historically placed in the family Sterculiaceae by some taxonomic authorities, but Sterculiaceae is now considered obsolete, and Melochia is fully incorporated within the broadly defined Malvaceae. The genus name traces to the Arabic word Mulukhiyah, a name used in Egypt for leafy vegetables in the related genus Corchorus; the transfer of this name to Melochia was made by the Italian botanist Prospero Alpini following his time in Egypt in the 1580s, and it was subsequently adopted by several other early modern European botanists including Johann Bauhin, Caspar Bauhin, and Johann Vesling.
Members of Melochia are widespread across disturbed habitats, forest edges, and roadsides in warm climates. The genus includes species such as Melochia crenata, Melochia spicata, and Melochia tomentosa, the last of which is among the better-known members for its woolly or tomentose foliage, as its name suggests.
Etymology
The genus name Melochia is derived from the Arabic Mulukhiyah, a word used in Egypt for leafy mallow-like vegetables of the genus Corchorus. The Italian botanist Prospero Alpini, who lived in Egypt in the 1580s, applied this Arabic term to Melochia plants; his usage was then adopted by Johann Bauhin, Caspar Bauhin, and Johann Vesling in the early seventeenth century.
Distribution
Melochia species occur throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the world, from India eastwards through Malesia and the Pacific Islands to the Americas and the Caribbean. The genus is absent from temperate regions and is associated with warm, disturbed, and forest-edge habitats.
Taxonomy Notes
Melochia was described by Dillenius and formally published by Linnaeus in Species Plantarum (1753). The genus was historically assigned to the family Sterculiaceae by some authorities, but that family is now considered taxonomically obsolete and its former members, including Melochia, are placed within the broadly circumscribed Malvaceae. Its current placement is family Malvaceae, order Malvales.
