Studies in Neotropical Araliaceae. VII. Two new genera, Cephalopanax and Frodinia, to accommodate the remaining species of Neotropical Schefflera

Until recently, Schefflera was the largest genus in Araliaceae (with more than 600 described species), but with a growing understanding of its polyphyly, the circumscription of Schefflera had to be limited to just eight closely related species from the Pacific Islands. To restore monophyly, it was necessary to transfer the remaining, unrelated species to other genera. In most cases, these transfers could be accommodated by resurrecting generic names that had previously been placed in synonymy (namely, Astropanax , Crepinella , Didymopanax , Heptapleurum , Neocussonia , Plerandra , and Sciodaphyllum ). For two small Neotropical clades, however, no generic name was available, and for these, we describe two new genera of Araliaceae, Cephalopanax and Frodinia . As defined here, these genera have two accepted species each, for which four new combinations are made ( C. jahnii , C. pachycephalus , F. gleasonii , and F. tremula ). Lectotypes are designated for two accepted names, and one previously accepted species ( Schefflera cuatrecasasiana ) is placed in synonymy. For each accepted species, full synonymy is provided, together with geographic ranges and notes.