Dodonaea viscosa
Encyclopedia
Dodonaea viscosa is a species of flowering plant
in the soapberry
family, Sapindaceae
, that has a cosmopolitan distribution
in tropical
, subtropical
and warm temperate
regions of Africa
, the Americas
, southern Asia
and Australasia
.
D. viscosa is a shrub
growing to 1–3 m (3.3–9.8 ft) tall, rarely a small tree
to 9 m (29.5 ft) tall. The leaves
are simple elliptical, 4–7.5 cm (1.6–3 in) long and 1–1.5 cm (0.393700787401575–0.590551181102362 in) broad, alternate in arrangement, and secrete a resin
ous substance. The flower
s are yellow to orange-red and produced in panicle
s about 2.5 cm (0.984251968503937 in) in length. The fruit
is a capsule
1.5 cm (0.590551181102362 in) broad, red ripening brown, with two to four wings.
Common names reflect the widespread distribution of this species. In the desert southwest it is called desert hopbush or canyon hopbush, while gardeners plant hopseed, or hopseed bush.
Australian common names include: broad leaf hopbush, candlewood, giant hopbush, narrow leaf hopbush, sticky hopbush, native hop bush, soapwood, switchsorrel, wedge leaf hopbush, and native hop.
Additional common names include: aalii, as well as ‘a‘ali‘i-ku ma kua and ‘a‘ali‘i ku makani in the Hawaiian language
language; akeake (New Zealand
); lampuaye (Guam
); mesechelangel (Palau); chirca (Uruguay
, Argentina
); romerillo (Sonora
, Mexico
); jarilla (Southern Mexico); hayuelo (Colombia
); ch'akatea (Bolivia
); casol caacol (Seri).
is extremely tough and durable, and New Zealand's Māori have used akeake to fashion clubs
and other weapons. The Māori name
for the shrub, akeake, means "forever and ever".
Native Hawaiians
made pou (house posts), laau melomelo (fishing lure
s), and ōō (digging stick
s) from aalii wood and a red dye
from the fruit.
The cultivar
'Purpurea', with purple foliage, is widely grown as a garden shrub.
The Seri use the plant medicinally.
as follows:
Botanical synonyms
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...
in the soapberry
Sapindus
Sapindus is a genus of about five to twelve species of shrubs and small trees in the Lychee family, Sapindaceae, native to warm temperate to tropical regions in both the Old World and New World. The genus includes both deciduous and evergreen species. Members of the genus are commonly known as...
family, Sapindaceae
Sapindaceae
Sapindaceae, also known as the soapberry family, is a family of flowering plants in the order Sapindales. There are about 140-150 genera with 1400-2000 species, including maple, horse chestnut and lychee....
, that has a cosmopolitan distribution
Cosmopolitan distribution
In biogeography, a taxon is said to have a cosmopolitan distribution if its range extends across all or most of the world in appropriate habitats. For instance, the killer whale has a cosmopolitan distribution, extending over most of the world's oceans. Other examples include humans, the lichen...
in tropical
Tropics
The tropics is a region of the Earth surrounding the Equator. It is limited in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere at approximately N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere at S; these latitudes correspond to the axial tilt of the Earth...
, subtropical
Subtropics
The subtropics are the geographical and climatical zone of the Earth immediately north and south of the tropical zone, which is bounded by the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, at latitudes 23.5°N and 23.5°S...
and warm temperate
Temperate
In geography, temperate or tepid latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. The changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally relatively moderate, rather than extreme hot or cold...
regions of Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, the Americas
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
, southern Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
and Australasia
Australasia
Australasia is a region of Oceania comprising Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes...
.
Description
Shrub
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...
growing to 1–3 m (3.3–9.8 ft) tall, rarely a 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...
to 9 m (29.5 ft) tall. The 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....
are simple elliptical, 4–7.5 cm (1.6–3 in) long and 1–1.5 cm (0.393700787401575–0.590551181102362 in) broad, alternate in arrangement, and secrete a resin
Resin
Resin in the most specific use of the term is a hydrocarbon secretion of many plants, particularly coniferous trees. Resins are valued for their chemical properties and associated uses, such as the production of varnishes, adhesives, and food glazing agents; as an important source of raw materials...
ous substance. The 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 are yellow to orange-red and produced in panicle
Panicle
A panicle is a compound raceme, a loose, much-branched indeterminate inflorescence with pedicellate flowers attached along the secondary branches; in other words, a branched cluster of flowers in which the branches are racemes....
s about 2.5 cm (0.984251968503937 in) in length. The 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,...
is a capsule
Capsule (fruit)
In botany a capsule is a type of simple, dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. A capsule is a structure composed of two or more carpels that in most cases is dehiscent, i.e. at maturity, it splits apart to release the seeds within. A few capsules are indehiscent, for example...
1.5 cm (0.590551181102362 in) broad, red ripening brown, with two to four wings.
Common names
The common name "hopbush" is used for D. viscosa specifically but also for the genus as a whole.Common names reflect the widespread distribution of this species. In the desert southwest it is called desert hopbush or canyon hopbush, while gardeners plant hopseed, or hopseed bush.
Australian common names include: broad leaf hopbush, candlewood, giant hopbush, narrow leaf hopbush, sticky hopbush, native hop bush, soapwood, switchsorrel, wedge leaf hopbush, and native hop.
Additional common names include: aalii, as well as ‘a‘ali‘i-ku ma kua and ‘a‘ali‘i ku makani in the Hawaiian language
Hawaiian language
The Hawaiian language is a Polynesian language that takes its name from Hawaii, the largest island in the tropical North Pacific archipelago where it developed. Hawaiian, along with English, is an official language of the state of Hawaii...
language; akeake (New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
); lampuaye (Guam
Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
); mesechelangel (Palau); chirca (Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
); romerillo (Sonora
Sonora
Sonora officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 72 municipalities; the capital city is Hermosillo....
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
); jarilla (Southern Mexico); hayuelo (Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
); ch'akatea (Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
); casol caacol (Seri).
Uses
The woodWood
Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...
is extremely tough and durable, and New Zealand's Māori have used akeake to fashion clubs
Club (weapon)
A club is among the simplest of all weapons. A club is essentially a short staff, or stick, usually made of wood, and wielded as a weapon since prehistoric times....
and other weapons. The Māori name
Maori language
Māori or te reo Māori , commonly te reo , is the language of the indigenous population of New Zealand, the Māori. It has the status of an official language in New Zealand...
for the shrub, akeake, means "forever and ever".
Native Hawaiians
Native Hawaiians
Native Hawaiians refers to the indigenous Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands or their descendants. Native Hawaiians trace their ancestry back to the original Polynesian settlers of Hawaii.According to the U.S...
made pou (house posts), laau melomelo (fishing lure
Fishing lure
A fishing lure is an object attached to the end of a fishing line which is designed to resemble and move like the prey of a fish. The purpose of the lure is to use movement, vibration, and colour to catch the fish's attention so it bites the hook...
s), and ōō (digging stick
Digging stick
In archaeology and anthropology a digging stick is the term given to a variety of wooden implements used primarily by subsistence-based cultures to dig out underground food such as roots and tubers or burrowing animals and anthills...
s) from aalii wood and a red dye
Dye
A dye is a colored substance that has an affinity to the substrate to which it is being applied. The dye is generally applied in an aqueous solution, and requires a mordant to improve the fastness of the dye on the fiber....
from the fruit.
The cultivar
Cultivar
A cultivar'Cultivar has two meanings as explained under Formal definition. When used in reference to a taxon, the word does not apply to an individual plant but to all those plants sharing the unique characteristics that define the cultivar. is a plant or group of plants selected for desirable...
'Purpurea', with purple foliage, is widely grown as a garden shrub.
The Seri use the plant medicinally.
Subspecies and synonyms
There are several subspeciesSubspecies
Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...
as follows:
- D. viscosa subsp. angustifolia (L.f.Carolus Linnaeus the YoungerCarl Linnaeus the Younger, Carl von Linné or Carolus Linnaeus the Younger was a Swedish naturalist...
) J.G.West - D. viscosa subsp. angustissima (DC.) J.G.West
- D. viscosa subsp. burmanniana (DC.) J.G.West
- D. viscosa subsp. cuneata (Sm.James Edward SmithSir James Edward Smith was an English botanist and founder of the Linnean Society.Smith was born in Norwich in 1759, the son of a wealthy wool merchant. He displayed a precocious interest in the natural world...
) J.G.West - D. viscosa subsp. mucronata J.G.West
- D. viscosa subsp. spatulata (Sm.) J.G.West
- D. viscosa (L.) Jacq. subsp. viscosa
Botanical synonyms
- D. eriocarpa Sm.
- D. sandwicensis Sherff
- D. stenocarpa Hillebr.