Punica [SEP] parent taxon
Punica
Punica is a small genus of fruit-bearing deciduous shrubs or small trees. The better known species is the pomegranate ("Punica granatum"). The other species, the Socotra pomegranate ("Punica protopunica"), is endemic to the island of Socotra. It differs in having pink (not red) flowers and smaller, less sweet fruit.
Although previously placed in its own family Punicaceae, recent phylogenetic studies have shown that "Punica" belongs in the family Lythraceae, and it is classified in
monophyletic clade within the subgenus "Didymaeformia" (Leneveu et al., 2009). Although that study provided important results regarding the systematics of the genus, the members of the "phoebe" species group were poorly represented, and the need for a detailed examination of this group remained. One of the important results was the corroboration of the species rank of "M. telona" and the suggestion that the taxon "punica" (type locality: Lambessa, Algeria) may represent a separate species from both "M. telona"