# Benstonea

Benstonea is a genus of flowering plants in the family Pandanaceae, native to the Paleotropics.

## Description

Plants in this genus are stemless or short-stemmed shrubs, epiphytes, or (rarely) trees. Leaves are long and strap like, and pleated along the length. Spines may be present along the margins and the pleats. The inflorescences are either terminal or carried on a short side branch. The fruit is a syncarp consisting of numerous simple drupes that never coalesce into phalanges as do those of Pandanus species.
Plants in the genus are characterised by:
* Leaves having spines on the ventral pleats towards the tip of the leaf,
* Monocarpellate drupes with the stigmatic grooves on the adaxial side of the stigma
* Male flowers having one stamen, or free stamens in triads.

## Taxonomy

Plants in this genus were formerly placed in Pandanus subgenus Acrostigma, which contained four sections, namely sect. Acrostigma, sect. Epiphytica, sect. Fusiforma and sect. Pseudoacrostigma, largely the work by the British-American botanist Benjamin Clemens Stone. In 2012 Martin W. Callmander and Sven Buerki published a paper which recognised the distinctive traits of the subgenus - based on morphology and DNA sequencing - and transferred most taxa from Pandanus sect. Acrostigma to their newly created genus Benstonea. In the following year, after additional research, they transferred all other members of the subgenus to Benstonea.

### Etymology

The genus name Benstonea was chosen by Callamander in recognition of the decades of research work on this family which was undertaken by Stone through the middle and late 20th century.

## Distribution

Benstonea is distributed from India to Fiji with centres of diversity in Borneo, Peninsular Malaysia and New Guinea.

## Species

As of 30 April 2024, Plants of the World Online recognises 61 species in this genus, as follows:
* Benstonea adinobotrys (Merr. & L.M.Perry) Callm. & Buerki – New Guinea, Sulawesi
* Benstonea affinis (Kurz) Callm. & Buerki – Borneo, Malaya, Philippines, Sumatera, Vietnam
* Benstonea alticola (Holttum & H.St.John) Callm. & Buerki – Borneo, Malaya
* Benstonea ashtonii (B.C.Stone) Callm. & Buerki – Borneo
* Benstonea atrocarpa (Griff.) Callm. & Buerki – Malaya, Sumatera, Thailand
* Benstonea beccata (B.C.Stone) Callm. & Buerki – Borneo
* Benstonea biplicata (H.St.John) Callm. & Buerki – Thailand
* Benstonea brevistylis (H.St.John ex B.C.Stone) Callm. & Buerki – Borneo
* Benstonea brunigii (H.St.John ex B.C.Stone) Callm. & Buerki – Borneo
* Benstonea calcinacta (H.St.John ex B.C.Stone) Callm. & Buerki – Borneo
* Benstonea celebica (Warb.) Callm. & Buerki – Sulawesi
* Benstonea copelandii (Merr.) Callm. & Buerki – Philippines
* Benstonea dumetorum (Holttum & H.St.John) Callm. & Buerki – Malaya
* Benstonea ellipsoidea (Warb.) Callm. & Buerki – Sulawesi
* Benstonea elostigma (Martelli) Callm. & Buerki – Malaya
* Benstonea epiphytica (Martelli) Callm. & Buerki – Borneo, Malaya, Sumatera
* Benstonea eumekes (H.St.John ex B.C.Stone) Callm. & Buerki – New Guinea
* Benstonea foetida (Roxb.) Callm. & Buerki – Assam, Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Thailand
* Benstonea fortuita Callm. & Buerki – Borneo
* Benstonea gibbsiana (Martelli) Callm. & Buerki – Borneo
* Benstonea glaucophylla (Ridl.) Callm. & Buerki – Malaya
* Benstonea herbacea (Martelli) Callm. & Buerki – Malaya, Thailand
* Benstonea humilis (Lour.) Callm. & Buerki – Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Malaya, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam
* Benstonea ihuana (Martelli) Callm. & Buerki – New Guinea
* Benstonea inquilina (B.C.Stone) Callm. & Buerki – Borneo
* Benstonea korthalsii (Solms) Callm. & Buerki – Borneo, Sumatera
* Benstonea kurzii (Merr.) Callm. & Buerki – Java, Sumatera
* Benstonea lauterbachii (K.Schum. & Warb.) Callm. & Buerki – Maluku, New Guinea, Queensland
* Benstonea lepatophila (B.C.Stone) Callm. & Buerki – Borneo
* Benstonea microglottis (B.C.Stone) Callm. & Buerki – Borneo
* Benstonea monticola (F.Muell.) Callm. & Buerki – Queensland
* Benstonea nana (Martelli) Callm. & Buerki – Malaya, Thailand
* Benstonea ornithocephala (H.St.John ex B.C.Stone) Callm. & Buerki – New Guinea
* Benstonea pachyphylla (Merr.) Callm. & Buerki – Borneo
* Benstonea papuana Callm. & Buerki – New Guinea
* Benstonea parva (Ridl.) Callm. & Buerki – Borneo, Malaya
* Benstonea pectinata (Martelli) Callm. & Buerki – Borneo, Sumatera
* Benstonea permicron (Kaneh.) Callm. & Buerki – New Guinea
* Benstonea pilaris (Ridl.) Callm. & Buerki – Malaya
* Benstonea platystigma (Martelli) Callm. & Buerki – Borneo
* Benstonea poronaliva (B.C.Stone) Callm. & Buerki – Solomon Islands
* Benstonea pseudosyncarpa (Kaneh.) Callm. & Buerki – New Guinea
* Benstonea pumila (H.St.John) Callm. & Buerki – Borneo
* Benstonea rostellata (Merr. & L.M.Perry) Callm. & Buerki – New Guinea
* Benstonea rupestris (B.C.Stone) Callm. & Buerki – Borneo
* Benstonea rustica (B.C.Stone) Callm. & Buerki – Borneo
* Benstonea saint-johnii (B.C.Stone) Callm. & Buerki – Malaya
* Benstonea serpentinica Callm. & Buerki – Borneo
* Benstonea setistyla (Warb.) Callm. & Buerki – New Guinea
* Benstonea sobolifera (B.C.Stone) Callm. & Buerki – Malaya
* Benstonea stenocarpa (Solms) Callm. & Buerki – Bismarck Archipelago, New Guinea, Solomon Islands
* Benstonea sylvatica (B.C.Stone) Callm. & Buerki – Borneo
* Benstonea thomissophylla (B.C.Stone) Callm. & Buerki – Borneo
* Benstonea thurstonii (C.H.Wright) Callm. & Buerki – Fiji
* Benstonea thwaitesii (Martelli) Callm. & Buerki – India, Sri Lanka
* Benstonea toei (H.St.John) Callm. & Buerki – Malaya, Thailand
* Benstonea tunicata (B.C.Stone) Callm. & Buerki – Borneo
* Benstonea undulifolia (Holttum & H.St.John) Callm. & Buerki – Malaya
* Benstonea unguiculata (Ridl.) Callm. & Buerki – Malaya
* Benstonea verruculosa (Backer ex B.C.Stone) Callm., Buerki & A.P.Keim – Maluku
* Benstonea vriensii (Martelli) Callm. & Buerki – Sumatera

## Gallery

* Benstonea atrocarpus
* Benstonea humilis
* Benstonea lauterbachii
* Benstonea monticola
* Flowers of B. monticola