Within the 300-odd botanical families in the whole, wide world of seed-bearing or flowering plants, a modest number of “sub-families” (genera) are delightfully and curiously exclusive.
Some of these small clans have so few members in the botanical books, one wonders what nature had in mind when she made them, each with certain definite characteristics of leaf, flower, or habit which set them apart from any other.
Take the Crossandra infundibuliform (or undulaefolia, if you please), a formidable name for a shrubby little plant with glossy green leaves and constant clusters of shaggy coral flowers. This is the one, the only Cassandra listed – a single-membered branch of the large botanical family Acanthaceae.
Perhaps Nature was so pleased with this delightful creation, when she made it, that she broke the mold so there’d never be another like it.
The popular “seersucker plant,” (Geogenanthus undatus) is also an “only.” So is Hypoestes phyllostachya, called “freckle-face” or “pink polka dot plant.” The little Mexican foxglove, Allophyton mexicanum, is one of only three. And there are just three chrysanthemums (or is it chamaeranthema?) to crawl and creep around a terrarium.
Outdoor Garden
In the outdoor garden, the “gas plant” (you may know it as dittany, fraxinella, or burning bush it’s known botanically as Dictamnus) has several minor variations in the flowers but all of them are the same species. The mignonette clan of the Reseda family lists only three members with white, yellow, and fragrant flowers.
The May apple or Mandrake (Podophyllum peltatum) is one of only two species with that first name. And the cleome, or spider plant, has few relatives to speak of.
An accident of nature? Perhaps a plan. Some families begonia, cactus, and many others are so numerous that it’s pleasant to punctuate botanical pages here and there with a genus that stands out because it’s small and exclusive.
It’s even more likely one of nature’s tricks to gain and hold our interest in her children. Exclusivity makes many things more precious. Nature not only made some of these plant clans small, but she also endowed the plants in them with a very special, unduplicated charm. In nature’s world, there’s never a dull moment!
44659 by Elvin Mcdonald