Firstly described by Sandwith (1931) as Cymbocarpa saccata, as sister to Cymbocarpa refracta, a genus formerly characterized by its 90° angle of fruit position and monosulcate dehiscence (Maas et al. 1986). However, molecular data provided by Merckx et al. (2006) have shown a nested position of Cymbocarpa between all Gymnosiphon species, and Merckx (2008), formally in Christenhusz et al. (2018), has recombined Cymbocarpa saccata to Gymnosiphon saccatum V. Merckx & Byng.
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