Cynometra is genus of tropical forest trees with a pantropical distribution. It is particularly important as a forest component in west Africa and the neotropics. Cynometra alexandri (muhimbi) is a familiar timber tree of central and east Africa. The genus is a member of the subfamily Detarioideae. It has been suggested that Cynometra is polyphyletic and is in need of revision.[1] In 2019, beside description of 4 new species (i.e. Cynometra cerebriformis, C. dwyeri, C. steyermarkii and C. tumbesiana), Aleksandar Radosavljevic suggested that the species formerly recognized as Maniltoa should be included in this genus and some of the mainland tropical African species (those with asterisk in the list below) excluded from this genus because of their jointed pedicels and dehiscent fruits (he has not yet published any new combination for them, though).[2]
The list below is based on Plants of the World Online[3] and Radosavljevic (2019).
Media related to Cynometra at Wikimedia CommonsCynometra is genus of tropical forest trees with a pantropical distribution. It is particularly important as a forest component in west Africa and the neotropics. Cynometra alexandri (muhimbi) is a familiar timber tree of central and east Africa. The genus is a member of the subfamily Detarioideae. It has been suggested that Cynometra is polyphyletic and is in need of revision. In 2019, beside description of 4 new species (i.e. Cynometra cerebriformis, C. dwyeri, C. steyermarkii and C. tumbesiana), Aleksandar Radosavljevic suggested that the species formerly recognized as Maniltoa should be included in this genus and some of the mainland tropical African species (those with asterisk in the list below) excluded from this genus because of their jointed pedicels and dehiscent fruits (he has not yet published any new combination for them, though).
