The Plant Press

From The Plant Press, Vol. 26, No. 2, April 2023.

Art by Alice Tangerini

Causonis japonica (Thunb.) Raf.

Causonis japonica (Vitaceae) is the type species of the genus Causonis Raf., which was recently resurrected as a segregate of the genus Cayratia Juss. based on phylogenetic and morphological evidence. The species is widely distributed in eastern Asia (Japan, Korea, and China) and southeast Asia (the Philippines and Vietnam). Alice Tangerini’s illustration used three collections as resource material: the habit was reconstructed from a collection by Mac Alford, former intern in Botany, (Mississippi, 2002), the flower was reconstructed from a Fumihiro Konta collection (Tokyo, 1997), and the bud and floral disk were from Jun Wen’s pickled material (Yunnan, 2014). Wen also supplied digital images of the habit and inflorescence which aided in making a more natural appearance. The illustration had to be reduced to a 3-inch format for Flora of North America; thus, all figures were sized to fit an 8 x 12 inch plate and the reproduction, happily, kept all of the linework.