Costularia
Costularia
Genus of grass-like plants
Costularia is a plant genus in the family Cyperaceae.[2][3][4][5] It includes 15 species native to southeastern Africa, ranging from South Africa (KwaZulu-Natal and Northern Provinces) through Eswatini, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Malawi, and to the islands Madagascar, Réunion, and the Seychelles in the Western Indian Ocean.[1][6]
The genus was formerly circumscribed to include 25 species. A molecular phylogenetic study found that circumscription to include four distinct lineages:
- Costularia s.s. (11 species) from Africa, Madagascar, the Mascarene Islands and Seychelles.
- Chamaedendron Larridon (five species) from New Caledonia.
- a group largely conforming to subgenus Lophoschoenus (eight species) from New Caledonia and Malesia that are now considered to be part of a redelimited genus Tetraria.
- the species Xyroschoenus hornei, which is endemic to the Seychelles.
In 2019, the genus was revised to include 15 species, generally corresponding to Costularia s.s. and including a few previously undescribed species.[6]
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