Abrophyllum
Encyclopedia
Abrophyllum is a monotypic
genus of flowering plant
s in the family Saxifragaceae
sensu lato according to Engler, A.
in Engler & Prantl and Schulze-Menz, G. K. in Melchior
, 1964; placed in Subfamily Escallonioideae, Tribe Cuttsieae, it is closely related to Cuttsia
. In the APG II system
Abrophyllum is placed in family Rousseaceae
.
The sole species is Abrophyllum ornans.
Its common name is Native Hydrangea, but it does not have great affinity with the true Hydrangea
.
(by Hutchinson
1967; Dahlgren; Thorne), Grossulariaceae (Cronquist
1988), Carpodetaceae (APG I
1998, Kubitzki
2007 ), Rousseaceae
(APG II
2003, Shipunov 2005, Thorne & Reveal 2007 and Heywood et al. 2007 ), or even in its own family Abrophyllaceae Nakai
(Reveal
and Takhtajan 1997).
(New South Wales
and Queensland
).
Habitat
: warm-temperate and subtropical rainforest
, especially along smaller watercourses or in gullies
on poorer soils. The natural range of distribution is from the Illawarra
of New South Wales
to the McIlwraith Range
in far north eastern Australia
.
s or small tree
s to 8 m high; leaves
simple, mostly 10-20 cm long, 3-8 cm wide, alternate, large, lanceolate, long-acuminate, subserrate; without stipule
s, petiole
20-40 mm long. Flower
s in terminal or axillary cymes, yellowish. Calyx
is short (c. 2 mm long.), tubular
, lobes usually 5 or sometimes 6, deciduous. Petal
s 4-5 mm long, usually 5 or sometimes 6, valvate, spreading, deciduous. Stamen
s usually 5 or sometimes 6, inserted on the margin of the inconspicuous nectary disk; anthers broad oblong; filaments very short. Gynoecium
of 5 carpels, receptacle patelliform. Ovary
superior, 5-locular, with numerous axile ovule
s, stigma sessile, 5-lobed. Fruit
a small (8-12 mm long, 5-7 mm wide),
oblong, dark, mainly black berry
, crowned by the stigma, many-seeded; seed
s small, subglobose, testa deeply latticed; embryo
very small; endosperm
fleshy and oily.
Monotypic
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group with only one biological type. The term's usage differs slightly between botany and zoology. The term monotypic has a separate use in conservation biology, monotypic habitat, regarding species habitat conversion eliminating biodiversity and...
genus of flowering plant
Flowering plant
The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...
s in the family Saxifragaceae
Saxifragaceae
Saxifragaceae is a plant family with about 460 known species in 36 genera. In Europe there are 12 genera.The flowers are hermaphroditic and actinomorphic...
sensu lato according to Engler, A.
Adolf Engler
Heinrich Gustav Adolf Engler was a German botanist. He is notable for his work on plant taxonomy and phytogeography, like Die Natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien , edited with Karl A. E...
in Engler & Prantl and Schulze-Menz, G. K. in Melchior
Hans Melchior
Hans Melchior was a German botanist.He studied botany at Berlin University, became assistant to G...
, 1964; placed in Subfamily Escallonioideae, Tribe Cuttsieae, it is closely related to Cuttsia
Cuttsia
Cuttsia is a monotypic genus of shrubs or trees in the family Rousseaceae.The sole species is Cuttsia viburnea , which is native to rainforests in New South Wales and Queensland in Australia...
. In the APG II system
APG II system
The APG II system of plant classification is the second, now obsolete, version of a modern, mostly molecular-based, system of plant taxonomy that was published in April 2003 by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group. It was a revision of the first APG system, published in 1998, and was superseded in 2009...
Abrophyllum is placed in family Rousseaceae
Rousseaceae
Rousseaceae is a plant family in the order Asterales containing trees and shrubs. The fruit is a berry or capsule. Leaves are simple, with toothed margins. Leaf stipules are not seen in this group....
.
The sole species is Abrophyllum ornans.
Its common name is Native Hydrangea, but it does not have great affinity with the true Hydrangea
Hydrangea
Hydrangea is a genus of about 70 to 75 species of flowering plants native to southern and eastern Asia and North and South America. By far the greatest species diversity is in eastern Asia, notably China, Japan, and Korea...
.
Classification
It is also classified in EscalloniaceaeEscalloniaceae
The Escalloniaceae is a family of flowering plants comprising about 130 species in seven genera. In the APG II system it is one of eight families in the euasterids II clade that are unplaced as to order...
(by Hutchinson
John Hutchinson (botanist)
John Hutchinson, OBE, FRS was a renowned English botanist, taxonomist and author.-Life and career:...
1967; Dahlgren; Thorne), Grossulariaceae (Cronquist
Arthur Cronquist
Arthur John Cronquist was a North American botanist and a specialist on Compositae. He is considered one of the most influential botanists of the 20th century, largely due to his formulation of the Cronquist system. Two plant genera in the aster family have been named in his honor...
1988), Carpodetaceae (APG I
APG system
The APG system of plant classification is the first, now obsolete, version of a modern, mostly molecular-based, system of plant taxonomy that was published in 1998 by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group. It was superseded in 2003 by a revision, the APG II system, and then in 2009 by a further...
1998, Kubitzki
Kubitzki system
A system of plant taxonomy, the Kubitzki system is the product of an ongoing survey of vascular plants, entitled The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants....
2007 ), Rousseaceae
Rousseaceae
Rousseaceae is a plant family in the order Asterales containing trees and shrubs. The fruit is a berry or capsule. Leaves are simple, with toothed margins. Leaf stipules are not seen in this group....
(APG II
APG II system
The APG II system of plant classification is the second, now obsolete, version of a modern, mostly molecular-based, system of plant taxonomy that was published in April 2003 by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group. It was a revision of the first APG system, published in 1998, and was superseded in 2009...
2003, Shipunov 2005, Thorne & Reveal 2007 and Heywood et al. 2007 ), or even in its own family Abrophyllaceae Nakai
Takenoshin Nakai
was a Japanese botanist.-External links:* * * by Yong Shik Kim and Mike Maunder from CURTIS'S Botanical Magazine, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK. Vol. 15: 141-146, 1998....
(Reveal
Reveal system
A modern system of plant taxonomy, the Reveal system of plant classification was drawn up by the botanist J.L. Reveal , professor emeritus at the Norton Brown Herbarium, Maryland .The last update of the system was made in 1999...
and Takhtajan 1997).
Distribution
It is native to AustraliaAustralia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
(New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
and Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
).
Habitat
Habitat (ecology)
A habitat is an ecological or environmental area that is inhabited by a particular species of animal, plant or other type of organism...
: warm-temperate and subtropical rainforest
Rainforest
Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...
, especially along smaller watercourses or in gullies
Gully
A gully is a landform created by running water, eroding sharply into soil, typically on a hillside. Gullies resemble large ditches or small valleys, but are metres to tens of metres in depth and width...
on poorer soils. The natural range of distribution is from the Illawarra
Illawarra
Illawarra is a region in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is a coastal region situated immediately south of Sydney and north of the Shoalhaven or South Coast region. It encompasses the cities of Wollongong, Shellharbour, Shoalhaven and the town of Kiama. The central region contains Lake...
of New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
to the McIlwraith Range
McIlwraith Range
The McIlwraith Range is a rugged, dissected granite plateau on the Cape York Peninsula, Far North Queensland, Australia. Part of the Great Dividing Range, it covers about 3000 km2 and lies about 15 km east of the town of Coen, and 550 km north of Cairns...
in far north eastern Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
Description
ShrubShrub
A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...
s or small tree
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
s to 8 m high; leaves
Leaf
A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....
simple, mostly 10-20 cm long, 3-8 cm wide, alternate, large, lanceolate, long-acuminate, subserrate; without stipule
Stipule
In botany, stipule is a term coined by Linnaeus which refers to outgrowths borne on either side of the base of a leafstalk...
s, petiole
Petiole (botany)
In botany, the petiole is the stalk attaching the leaf blade to the stem. The petiole usually has the same internal structure as the stem. Outgrowths appearing on each side of the petiole are called stipules. Leaves lacking a petiole are called sessile, or clasping when they partly surround the...
20-40 mm long. Flower
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
s in terminal or axillary cymes, yellowish. Calyx
Sepal
A sepal is a part of the flower of angiosperms . Collectively the sepals form the calyx, which is the outermost whorl of parts that form a flower. Usually green, sepals have the typical function of protecting the petals when the flower is in bud...
is short (c. 2 mm long.), tubular
Tubular
Tubular may refer to:*the form of a cylinder or tube*Tubular, a television-related entertainment blog on the Houston Chronicle website*Tubular, a level in the video game Super Mario World...
, lobes usually 5 or sometimes 6, deciduous. Petal
Petal
Petals are modified leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They often are brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. Together, all of the petals of a flower are called a corolla. Petals are usually accompanied by another set of special leaves called sepals lying...
s 4-5 mm long, usually 5 or sometimes 6, valvate, spreading, deciduous. Stamen
Stamen
The stamen is the pollen producing reproductive organ of a flower...
s usually 5 or sometimes 6, inserted on the margin of the inconspicuous nectary disk; anthers broad oblong; filaments very short. Gynoecium
Gynoecium
Gynoecium is most commonly used as a collective term for all carpels in a flower. A carpel is the ovule and seed producing reproductive organ in flowering plants. Carpels are derived from ovule-bearing leaves which evolved to form a closed structure containing the ovules...
of 5 carpels, receptacle patelliform. Ovary
Ovary (plants)
In the flowering plants, an ovary is a part of the female reproductive organ of the flower or gynoecium. Specifically, it is the part of the pistil which holds the ovule and is located above or below or at the point of connection with the base of the petals and sepals...
superior, 5-locular, with numerous axile ovule
Ovule
Ovule means "small egg". In seed plants, the ovule is the structure that gives rise to and contains the female reproductive cells. It consists of three parts: The integument forming its outer layer, the nucellus , and the megaspore-derived female gametophyte in its center...
s, stigma sessile, 5-lobed. Fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
a small (8-12 mm long, 5-7 mm wide),
oblong, dark, mainly black berry
Berry
The botanical definition of a berry is a fleshy fruit produced from a single ovary. Grapes are an example. The berry is the most common type of fleshy fruit in which the entire ovary wall ripens into an edible pericarp. They may have one or more carpels with a thin covering and fleshy interiors....
, crowned by the stigma, many-seeded; seed
Seed
A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...
s small, subglobose, testa deeply latticed; embryo
Embryo
An embryo is a multicellular diploid eukaryote in its earliest stage of development, from the time of first cell division until birth, hatching, or germination...
very small; endosperm
Endosperm
Endosperm is the tissue produced inside the seeds of most flowering plants around the time of fertilization. It surrounds the embryo and provides nutrition in the form of starch, though it can also contain oils and protein. This makes endosperm an important source of nutrition in human diet...
fleshy and oily.