4. Nekemias Rafinesque, Sylva Tellur. 87. 1838.
[Etymology uncertain; perhaps Latin nec, not, and Greek mya, unknown plant, alluding to segregation from Ampelopsis and Vitis] [Etymology uncertain; perhaps Latin nec, not, and Greek mya, unknown plant, alluding to segregation from Ampelopsis and Vitis]
Lianas, climbing by tendrils, synoecious. Branches: bark adherent; pith white, continuous through nodes; tendrils 2-branched, without adhesive discs. Leaves [1–]2–3-pinnately compound. Inflorescences bisexual, leaf-opposed, corymblike cymes, sometimes compound. Flowers bisexual; calyx saucer-shaped, indistinctly undulate; petals 5, distinct; nectary proximally adnate to base of ovary, distally free, cup-shaped; stamens 5; style conic, ± elongate. Berries purple, blue, or black. Seeds 1–4 per fruit.
Species 9 (1 in the flora): North America, West Indies, e, se Asia.
Ampelopsis Michaux has been shown to be paraphyletic by recent phylogenetic analyses (A. Soejima and Wen J. 2006; Ren H. et al. 2011; Nie Z. L. et al. 2012), with molecular data placing the African Rhoicissus Planchon and the South American Cissus striata Ruiz & Pavon complex within Ampelopsis. To maintain the monophyly of genera of Vitaceae, Wen et al. (2014) separated Ampelopsis into two genera: Ampelopsis and Nekemias. The two genera can be distinguished by their leaf and bud morphology. Nekemias has pinnately compound leaves (versus simple, trifoliolate, or palmately compound leaves in Ampelopsis) and complex axillary buds (versus serial accessory buds).
SELECTED REFERENCE Wen, J., J. K. Boggan, and Nie Z. L. 2014. Synopsis of Nekemias Raf., a segregate genus from Ampelopsis Michx. (Vitaceae) disjunct between eastern/southeastern Asia and eastern North America, with ten new combinations. PhytoKeys 42: 11–19.
