What is Ceratonia?
{{italic title}} {{Automatic taxobox |image = Illustration Ceratonia siliqua0.jpg |image_caption = Carob tree (''[[Ceratonia siliqua]]'') |taxon = Ceratonia |authority = [[Carl Linnaeus|L.]] |subdivision_ranks = Species |subdivision = Selected species *''[[Ceratonia oreothauma]]'' *''†[[Ceratonia emarginata]]'' *''[[Ceratonia siliqua]]'' }} '''''Ceratonia''''' is small [[genus]] of [[Flowering plant|flowering]] [[tree]]s in the [[pea]] family, [[Fabaceae]], [[Endemism|endemic]] to the [[Mediterranean region]] and the [[Middle East]]. Its best known member, the [[carob tree]], is cultivated for its fruits (called [[:en:wikt:pod|pod]]s) and has been widely introduced to regions with similar climates. It belongs to the subfamily [[Caesalpinioideae]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/genus.pl?2300 |title=''Ceratonia'' L. |work=[[Germplasm Resources Information Network]] |publisher=[[United States Department of Agriculture]] |date=3 April 2007 |access-date=8 August 2016 |archive-date=23 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923230808/http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/genus.pl?2300 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The genus was created by [[Carl Linnaeus]] and published in ''[[Species Plantarum]]'' 2: 1026 en 1753.<ref name = Trop>{{cite web |url=http://www.tropicos.org/Name/40004461 |title= '''Ceratonia''|access-date=8 August 2016 | work= Tropicos.org. [[Missouri Botanical Garden]]}}</ref><ref name = TPL>{{Cite web |url=http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl/search?q=Ceratonia |title=''Ceratonia'' in PlantList |access-date=2016-08-09 |archive-date=2013-09-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130929033648/http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl/search?q=Ceratonia |url-status=dead }}</ref> The [[type specimen]] is ''[[Carob tree|Ceratonia siliqua]]''. The genus was long considered [[monotypic]] (with only one species), but a second species, ''Ceratonia oreothauma'', was identified in 1979 from [[Oman]] and [[Somalia]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/