Melianthus major
speciesAt a glance
Sources13 archives
Databases and archives Melianthus major's data was compiled from.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation4 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility2 197 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI9 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics12 specimens↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinesequences↗
LOTUSNatural Products (Wikidata)compounds↗
NPASSNat. Product Activity & Species Sourcecompounds↗
GRIN TaxonomyUSDA-ARSdistribution & uses↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
CCDBChromosome Counts DB · Tel Aviv U.genome & karyotype↗
PloiDBPloidy Databasegenome & karyotype
Paleobiology DatabasePBDB consortiumfossil record↗Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.
Fruit capsules and seed of M. major Melianthus major, the giant honey flower or kruidjie-roer-my-nie (Afrikaans for 'herb-touch-me-not'), is a species of flowering plant in the family Francoaceae. It is an evergreen suckering shrub, endemic to South Africa and naturalised in India, Australia and New Zealand. It grows to 2 - tall by 1 - wide, with pinnate blue-green leaves 30 - long, which have a distinctive musky odour. Dark red, nectar-laden flower spikes, 30 - in length, appear in spring, followed by green pods. All parts of the plants are poisonous. The Latin binomial Melianthus major literally means "large honey flower". The plant is also sometimes called honeybush (along with many other plants). In cultivation this plant requires a sheltered location and may also need a protective winter mulch in temperate regions. It has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. Sunbird (''[[Cinnyris chalybeus]]'') on honey flower <Center>Leaf</Center> <Center>Leaves</Center>
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
Size & morphology14
Life cycle & reproduction12
Diet & foraging1
Habitat & environment12
Physiology & chemistry3
Compounds documented for Melianthus major across natural-product and food-composition databases — not just the ~150 nutrients on a classic label ("nutritional dark matter").
Compound class profile5 classes
Documented compounds40 total
| Compound | Class | Amount | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| (+)-2-N-Methylfangchinoline | present | NPASS | |
| (+)-2-N-Methyltetrandrine | present | NPASS | |
| (1R)-2-(dimethylamino)-1-naphtho[2,1-g][1,3]benzodioxol-5-ylethanol | present | NPASS | |
| (1S,14S,30R)-9,20,25-trimethoxy-15,30-dimethyl-30-oxido-7,23-dioxa-15-aza-30-azoniaheptacyclo[22.6.2.23,6.18,12.114,18.027,31.022,33]hexatriaconta-3(36),4,6(35),8,10,12(34),18,20,22(33),24,26,31-dodecaen-21-ol | present | NPASS | |
| (1S,3R,6R,8R,11S,12S,15R,16R)-15-[(2R,5R)-5,6-dimethylhept-6-en-2-yl]-7,7,12,16-tetramethylpentacyclo[9.7.0.01,3.03,8.012,16]octadecan-6-ol | present | LOTUS | |
| (1S,4R,5S,8R,9R,12S,13R,14R,16R,18S)-5-hydroxy-9,16-dimethyl-8-(6-oxopyran-3-yl)-15,17,20-trioxahexacyclo[14.3.1.114,18.01,13.04,12.05,9]henicosane-13-carbaldehyde | present | NPASS | |
| (2R,3R,4S,5S,6S)-2-[[(3S,8S,9S,10R,13R,14S,17R)-17-[(2R,5R)-5-ethyl-6-methylheptan-2-yl]-10,13-dimethyl-2,3,4,7,8,9,11,12,14,15,16,17-dodecahydro-1H-cyclopenta[a]phenanthren-3-yl]oxy]-6-(hydroxymethyl)oxane-3,4,5-triol | present | LOTUS | |
| (2R,4aR,6aR,6aS,6bR,8aR,10S,12aR,14bR)-2-[[(E)-3-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)prop-2-enoyl]oxymethyl]-10-hydroxy-2,6a,6b,9,9,12a-hexamethyl-1,3,4,5,6,6a,7,8,8a,10,11,12,13,14b-tetradecahydropicene-4a-carboxylic acid | present | LOTUS | |
| 1-Isotetrandrine | present | NPASS | |
| 13-Methyl-5,7,19,21-tetraoxa-13-azahexacyclo[10.10.1.02,10.04,8.016,23.018,22]tricosa-1,3,8,10,12(23),16,18(22)-heptaene-14,15-dione | present | NPASS |
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Melianthus major has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
The complete instruction manual Melianthus major carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is
Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).
Chromosomes & ploidyhow the DNA is packaged
2n is the full chromosome count in a normal body cell; n is a gamete (egg or sperm), which carries half. Ploidy is how many complete chromosome sets each cell holds — 2× (diploid) is typical for animals, while higher levels (polyploidy) are common in plants. Click any value below to see the underlying records and sources.
2n 363×CCDB · book-indian_vol1 · CCDB · book-fedorov
2n 382×CCDB · book-indian_vol1 · CCDB · book-fedorov
n 181×CCDB · book-ipcn65
diploid inferred1×PloiDB · family-scale
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
Record type2 197 records
Origin
Range
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Holding institutions28 of 41 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
| Institution | Specimens |
|---|---|
| Adelaide, AU | 48 |
| Auckland, NZ | 42 |
| Pretoria, ZA | 33 |
| Wellington, NZ | 22 |
| Museo Entomologico de Leonlocation not on record | 22 |
| Kensington, AU | 10 |
| Durban, ZA | 9 |
| Hobart, AU | 7 |
| Christchurch, NZ | 6 |
| Florida Museum of Natural History- Zoology, Paleontology & Paleobotanylocation not on record | 6 |
| Canadian Department of Agriculturelocation not on record | 5 |
| Mount Annan, AU | 5 |
| Canberra, AU | 4 |
| Jardín Botánico José Celestino Mutis (JBBJCM)location not on record | 4 |
| Cape Town, ZA | 4 |
| Brisbane, AU | 3 |
| GHPG$location not on record | 3 |
| Saint Louis, US | 3 |
| Riverside, US | 3 |
| Badajoz, ES | 2 |
| Claremont, US | 2 |
| Bronx, US | 2 |
| US | 2 |
| Chongqing Museumlocation not on record | 1 |
| La Paz, BO | 1 |
| Northridge, US | 1 |
| University of Johannesburglocation not on record | 1 |
| Mlocation not on record | 1 |
| Barcelona, ES | 1 |
| John T. Waterhouse Herbariumlocation not on record | 1 |
| Córdoba, AR | 1 |
| Royal Botanic Gardens, Kewlocation not on record | 1 |
| Long Beach, US | 1 |
| Rotorua, NZ | 1 |
| Cochabamba, BO | 1 |
| Arcata, US | 1 |
| Kew, GB | 1 |
| Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznańlocation not on record | 1 |
| QVMAGlocation not on record | 1 |
| BGPAlocation not on record | 1 |
| Smithfield, AU | 1 |
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Where the DNA of Melianthus major was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Where its DNA was found
How strong is each trace?
Modelled climatemodelled
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.