Actinodaphne
Encyclopedia
Actinodaphne is an Asian genus
of the family Lauraceae
, Laurel bay related, that comprises a group of flowering plants within the order Laurales
.
evergreen trees and shrubs with 140 species
of the Lauraceae
, in tropical and subtropical regions of Asia, with 17 chinese species, 13 endemic.
They are trees of 3 to 25 m tall, with leaves usually clustered or nearly verticillate, rarely alternate or opposite, unlobed, pinninerved, rarely triplinerved.
The flowers are having star shape, are small and greenish. The flowers are clustered or whorled and are Unisexual.
Umbels solitary or clustered or arranged in a panicle or raceme; involucral bracts imbricate, caducous.
The perianth tube is short; perianth segments usually 6 in 2 whorls of 3 each, nearly equal, rarely persistent.
The male flowers: fertile stamens usually 9 in 3 whorls of 3 each; filaments of 1st and 2nd whorls eglandular, of 3rd whorls 2-glandular at
base; anthers all introrse and 4-celled, cells opening by lids; rudimentary pistil small or lacking.
The female flowers with staminodes as many as stamens of male flowers; ovary superior; stigma shield-shaped or dilated.
Fruit is a berry seated on shallow or deep cup-shaped or discoid perianth tube. It have a small single seed dispersed mostly by birds
. Species in less humid environment are smaller or less robust, with less abundant and thinner foliage and have oleifera cells that give trees a more fragrant aroma.
The ecological requirements of the genus, are those of fog moisture precipitating almost continuously in a natural habitat cloud-covered for much of the year. These genus species are found in tropical forests, subtropical temperate evergreen, and montane evergreen forests, which is a type of rainforest
or Cloud Forest
, an ecosystem
of great exuberance characterized by high humidity, no seasonal changes and with a wide variety of botanical and zoological species but also highly fragile against external aggressions. The temperate evergreen and evergreen forests are typically multispecies with evergreen and hardwood trees, reaching up to 40 meters in height. The forests are made up of laurel-leaved evergreen
hardwood
tree
s, harbouring a rich biota
of understorey plants, invertebrate
s, bird
s and mammalians.
It is present in cool temperate zones in montane tropical and subtropical montane rainforest, Actinodaphne require continuously moist soil, and do not tolerate drought and frost.
The laurel trees falls within the broad-leaved forests; mid-montane deciduous forests; and high-montane mixed stunted forests. Some species growing to high altitude forests at 1500–3300 m (4,921.3–10,826.8 ). The upper limit of forests ranges from 3000 metre.
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
of the family Lauraceae
Lauraceae
The Lauraceae or Laurel family comprises a group of flowering plants included in the order Laurales. The family contains about 55 genera and over 3500, perhaps as many as 4000, species world-wide, mostly from warm or tropical regions, especially Southeast Asia and South America...
, Laurel bay related, that comprises a group of flowering plants within the order Laurales
Laurales
The Laurales are an order of flowering plants. They are magnoliids, related to the Magnoliales.The order includes about 2500-2800 species from 85-90 genera, which comprise seven families of trees and shrubs. Most of the species are tropical and subtropical, though a few genera reach the temperate...
.
Overview
It is a botanical genus of dioeciousDioecious
Dioecy is the property of a group of biological organisms that have males and females, but not members that have organs of both sexes at the same time. I.e., those whose individual members can usually produce only one type of gamete; each individual organism is thus distinctly female or male...
evergreen trees and shrubs with 140 species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
of the Lauraceae
Lauraceae
The Lauraceae or Laurel family comprises a group of flowering plants included in the order Laurales. The family contains about 55 genera and over 3500, perhaps as many as 4000, species world-wide, mostly from warm or tropical regions, especially Southeast Asia and South America...
, in tropical and subtropical regions of Asia, with 17 chinese species, 13 endemic.
They are trees of 3 to 25 m tall, with leaves usually clustered or nearly verticillate, rarely alternate or opposite, unlobed, pinninerved, rarely triplinerved.
The flowers are having star shape, are small and greenish. The flowers are clustered or whorled and are Unisexual.
Umbels solitary or clustered or arranged in a panicle or raceme; involucral bracts imbricate, caducous.
The perianth tube is short; perianth segments usually 6 in 2 whorls of 3 each, nearly equal, rarely persistent.
The male flowers: fertile stamens usually 9 in 3 whorls of 3 each; filaments of 1st and 2nd whorls eglandular, of 3rd whorls 2-glandular at
base; anthers all introrse and 4-celled, cells opening by lids; rudimentary pistil small or lacking.
The female flowers with staminodes as many as stamens of male flowers; ovary superior; stigma shield-shaped or dilated.
Fruit is a berry seated on shallow or deep cup-shaped or discoid perianth tube. It have a small single seed dispersed mostly by birds
Ecology
They Grow in low evergreen tropical forest regions but also in tropical mountain cloud forest and laurel forestLaurel forest
Laurel forest is a subtropical or mild temperate forest, found in areas with high humidity and relatively stable and mild temperatures. They are characterized by tree species with evergreen, glossy, enlongated leaves, known as laurophyll or lauroide...
. Species in less humid environment are smaller or less robust, with less abundant and thinner foliage and have oleifera cells that give trees a more fragrant aroma.
The ecological requirements of the genus, are those of fog moisture precipitating almost continuously in a natural habitat cloud-covered for much of the year. These genus species are found in tropical forests, subtropical temperate evergreen, and montane evergreen forests, which is a type of rainforest
Rainforest
Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...
or Cloud Forest
Cloud forest
A cloud forest, also called a fog forest, is a generally tropical or subtropical evergreen montane moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud cover, usually at the canopy level. Cloud forests often exhibit an abundance of mosses covering the ground and...
, an ecosystem
Ecosystem
An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving , physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight....
of great exuberance characterized by high humidity, no seasonal changes and with a wide variety of botanical and zoological species but also highly fragile against external aggressions. The temperate evergreen and evergreen forests are typically multispecies with evergreen and hardwood trees, reaching up to 40 meters in height. The forests are made up of laurel-leaved evergreen
Evergreen
In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant that has leaves in all seasons. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage during the winter or dry season.There are many different kinds of evergreen plants, both trees and shrubs...
hardwood
Hardwood
Hardwood is wood from angiosperm trees . It may also be used for those trees themselves: these are usually broad-leaved; in temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen.Hardwood contrasts with softwood...
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, harbouring a rich biota
Biota (ecology)
Biota are the total collection of organisms of a geographic region or a time period, from local geographic scales and instantaneous temporal scales all the way up to whole-planet and whole-timescale spatiotemporal scales. The biota of the Earth lives in the biosphere.-See...
of understorey plants, invertebrate
Invertebrate
An invertebrate is an animal without a backbone. The group includes 97% of all animal species – all animals except those in the chordate subphylum Vertebrata .Invertebrates form a paraphyletic group...
s, bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
s and mammalians.
It is present in cool temperate zones in montane tropical and subtropical montane rainforest, Actinodaphne require continuously moist soil, and do not tolerate drought and frost.
The laurel trees falls within the broad-leaved forests; mid-montane deciduous forests; and high-montane mixed stunted forests. Some species growing to high altitude forests at 1500–3300 m (4,921.3–10,826.8 ). The upper limit of forests ranges from 3000 metre.