Hyptis is a genus of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae. These plants, known commonly as bushmints, are native to the subtropical and tropical Americas, from the southern United States to northern Argentina. There are 170 species, which may be annual or perennial herb to shrub. In 2012 several genera were segregated from Hyptis, including Cantinoa, Mesosphaerum, and Oocephalus.
Description
The genus has a wide diversity of growth forms with shrubs, subshrubs, perennial or annual herbs. They have compound inflorescences that can be lax or congested and commonly with Involucral bracts. . They grow in mostly tropical or subtropical savanna habitats.
Etymology
The name Hyptis originates from the greek word Hyptios (ὕπτιος) meaning "supine" or "lying on ones back" in reference to the deflexed lower lip of the corolla.
Taxonomic history
The genus was first described by Nicolaus jaquin in 1786 as Hyptis. In 1832 George Bentham studied the genus further and divided it into sections based morphologically on the different types of inflorescence. Since then there have been several rearrangements of species and sections within the genus. In 2004 the genus comprised 285 species and a total of 24 sections . A study in 2011 using nuclear and plastid DNA analysis showed that the genus was paraphyletic and that several of the sections could not be placed in a monophyletic clade. With this new information the genus underwent major changes in 2012 Harley and Pastore published their revision and the previous 24 sections were reduced to 10 sections and the total number of species in the genus changed to around 144. Several of the old sections were either moved to other genera or raised to become new genera. After all of these changes the genus was now monophyletic.
A follow up study published by Pastore in 2021 further strengthened that the genus now was monophyletic, but it also highlighted the problem that several sections could not form monophyletic clades. The most recent...
