Urera
Encyclopedia
Urera is a genus of flowering
shrub
s, tree
s and vine
s in the nettle
family, Urticaceae
. Urera is characterized by fleshy fruit
s (formed by the inflation of the petal
s), the presence of paintbrush-like stigma
s, glabrous pistillodes, and hairs
with bulbed bases, that in some species are stinging
.
There are currently 113 published species epithets for the genus of which 103 are likely legitimate. Of these epithets, sixteen have since been placed in Boehmeria
, Dendrocnide
, Girardinia, Gyrotaenia
, Laportea
and Obetia by subsequent authors. The remaining 87 names are estimated to refer to ca. 35 to 75 good species.
distribution (Neotropics, Africa
, Australasia
and the Pacific Islands
) but is absent from Asia
. Typically, they are not plants of dense old-growth forest; in Mesoamerica
for example they most commonly occur in riparian
and disturbed vegetation
.
Currently a single species, the Hawaii
an endemic Urera kaalae
, is known to be endangered
. It is on the very brink of extinction however.
in 1826, in his review of the studies done on Louis de Freycinet
's voyage of the Uranie. He noted its distinctness, proposing the subtribe
Urereae. This was later raised to the rank of tribe
, and subsequently merged into Urticeae.
Urera was expanded to include the monospecific genus Scepocarpus. As regards its relationships, a detailed analysis of trnL-F chloroplast
DNA
sequence
data suggests that Urera could be sister to Poikilospermum within the Urticaceae . A less detailed but more comprehensive analysis with additional ndhF and rbcL data supports the traditional subtribe Lecantheae uniting Poikilosperum with Pellionia
however, with Urera in a very badly resolved position somewhere near it.
Urera has attracted no monograph
ic attention since the late 19th century and to date no subgeneric classification has been published (although Weddell did divide the genus into un-named groups according to inflorescence structure and distribution). Systematic work in Urera has largely resulted from localized floristic treatments in and adjoining Mesoamerica.
Urera tenax is now Obetia tenax.
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...
shrub
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...
s, 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 and vine
Vine
A vine in the narrowest sense is the grapevine , but more generally it can refer to any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent, that is to say climbing, stems or runners...
s in the nettle
Nettle
Nettles constitute between 24 and 39 species of flowering plants of the genus Urtica in the family Urticaceae, with a cosmopolitan though mainly temperate distribution. They are mostly herbaceous perennial plants, but some are annual and a few are shrubby...
family, Urticaceae
Urticaceae
Urticaceae, or the nettle family, is a family of flowering plants. The family name comes from the genus Urtica . Urticaceae includes a number of well-known and useful plants, including the aforementioned nettles, Ramie , māmaki , and ajlai .The family includes approximately 2600 species, grouped...
. Urera is characterized by fleshy 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,...
s (formed by the inflation of the 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), the presence of paintbrush-like stigma
Stigma (botany)
The stigma is the receptive tip of a carpel, or of several fused carpels, in the gynoecium of a flower. The stigma receives pollen at pollination and it is on the stigma that the pollen grain germinates. The stigma is adapted to catch and trap pollen with various hairs, flaps, or sculpturings...
s, glabrous pistillodes, and hairs
Trichome
Trichomes are fine outgrowths or appendages on plants and certain protists. These are of diverse structure and function. Examples are hairs, glandular hairs, scales, and papillae.- Algal trichomes :...
with bulbed bases, that in some species are stinging
Stinger
-Biology:* Stinger, an organ or body part found in various animals that usually delivers some kind of venom.* Stinger , a minor neurological injury suffered by athletes.-Sports and entertainment:...
.
There are currently 113 published species epithets for the genus of which 103 are likely legitimate. Of these epithets, sixteen have since been placed in Boehmeria
Boehmeria
Boehmeria is a genus of about 100 species of flowering plants in the nettle family Urticaceae, native to Asia and North America. The species include herbaceous perennials, shrubs and small trees. Although related to nettles, this genus does not have stinging hairs...
, Dendrocnide
Dendrocnide
Dendrocnide is a genus of 37 species of shrub to large tree in the nettle family Urticaceae. They have a wide distribution across South-East Asia, Australia and the Pacific Islands.They are colloquially known as stinging nettles or nettle trees...
, Girardinia, Gyrotaenia
Gyrotaenia
Gyrotaenia is a genus of plant in family Urticaceae.Species include:* Gyrotaenia microcarpa, F. & R.* Gyrotaenia spicata, Wedd....
, Laportea
Laportea
Laportea is a genus of plants in the family Urticaceae, named after French naturalist François Louis de la Porte, comte de Castelnau.They are herbaceous, either annual or perennial. Like many plants of the Urticaceae, they have stinging hairs, and have stinging and non-stinging hairs on the same...
and Obetia by subsequent authors. The remaining 87 names are estimated to refer to ca. 35 to 75 good species.
Distribution and ecology
Urera has a nearly pantropicalPantropical
In biogeography, a pantropical distribution one which covers tropical regions of all of the major continents, i.e. in Africa, in Asia and in the Americas. Examples include the plant genera Acacia and Bacopa....
distribution (Neotropics, 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...
, 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...
and the Pacific Islands
Pacific Islands
The Pacific Islands comprise 20,000 to 30,000 islands in the Pacific Ocean. The islands are also sometimes collectively called Oceania, although Oceania is sometimes defined as also including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago....
) but is absent from 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...
. Typically, they are not plants of dense old-growth forest; in Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica is a region and culture area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, within which a number of pre-Columbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and...
for example they most commonly occur in riparian
Riparian zone
A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. Riparian is also the proper nomenclature for one of the fifteen terrestrial biomes of the earth. Plant habitats and communities along the river margins and banks are called riparian vegetation, characterized by...
and disturbed vegetation
Ruderal species
A ruderal species is a plant species that is first to colonize disturbed lands. The disturbance may be natural , or due to human influence – constructional , or agricultural .Ruderal species typically dominate the disturbed area...
.
Currently a single species, the Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
an endemic Urera kaalae
Urera kaalae
Urera kaalae is a species of flowering plant in the nettle family, Urticaceae, that is endemic to the island of Oahu in Hawaii. It inhabits slopes and gulches in mesic forests at elevations of . Currently it is restricted to the southern and central parts of the Waianae Mountains...
, is known to be endangered
Endangered species
An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...
. It is on the very brink of extinction however.
Systematics and taxonomy
The genus Urera was first described by Charles Gaudichaud-BeaupréCharles Gaudichaud-Beaupré
Charles Gaudichaud-Beaupré was a French botanist.He was born in Angoulême, the son of J-J. Gaudichaud and Rose Gaudichaud. He studied pharmacology at Cognac and Angoulême. He also studied chemistry and herbology.His greatest claim to fame was serving as botanist on a circumglobal expedition from...
in 1826, in his review of the studies done on Louis de Freycinet
Louis de Freycinet
Louis Claude de Saulces de Freycinet was a French navigator. He circumnavigated the earth, and was one of the first to produce a comprehensive map of the coastline of Australia.-Biography:...
's voyage of the Uranie. He noted its distinctness, proposing the subtribe
Tribe (biology)
In biology, a tribe is a taxonomic rank between family and genus. It is sometimes subdivided into subtribes.Some examples include the tribes: Canini, Acalypheae, Hominini, Bombini, and Antidesmeae.-See also:* Biological classification* Rank...
Urereae. This was later raised to the rank of tribe
Tribe (biology)
In biology, a tribe is a taxonomic rank between family and genus. It is sometimes subdivided into subtribes.Some examples include the tribes: Canini, Acalypheae, Hominini, Bombini, and Antidesmeae.-See also:* Biological classification* Rank...
, and subsequently merged into Urticeae.
Urera was expanded to include the monospecific genus Scepocarpus. As regards its relationships, a detailed analysis of trnL-F chloroplast
Chloroplast
Chloroplasts are organelles found in plant cells and other eukaryotic organisms that conduct photosynthesis. Chloroplasts capture light energy to conserve free energy in the form of ATP and reduce NADP to NADPH through a complex set of processes called photosynthesis.Chloroplasts are green...
DNA
Plastome
The plastome is the genetic material that is found in plastids in plant cells . It composes part of the entire genome of photosynthetic organisms....
sequence
DNA sequencing
DNA sequencing includes several methods and technologies that are used for determining the order of the nucleotide bases—adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine—in a molecule of DNA....
data suggests that Urera could be sister to Poikilospermum within the Urticaceae . A less detailed but more comprehensive analysis with additional ndhF and rbcL data supports the traditional subtribe Lecantheae uniting Poikilosperum with Pellionia
Pellionia
Pellionia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Urticaceae....
however, with Urera in a very badly resolved position somewhere near it.
Urera has attracted no monograph
Monograph
A monograph is a work of writing upon a single subject, usually by a single author.It is often a scholarly essay or learned treatise, and may be released in the manner of a book or journal article. It is by definition a single document that forms a complete text in itself...
ic attention since the late 19th century and to date no subgeneric classification has been published (although Weddell did divide the genus into un-named groups according to inflorescence structure and distribution). Systematic work in Urera has largely resulted from localized floristic treatments in and adjoining Mesoamerica.
Selected species
- Urera baccifera (L.) Gaudich. ex Wedd.Hugh Algernon WeddellHugh Algernon Weddell was a physician and botanist, specialising in South American flora.Weddell was born at Birches House, Painswick near Gloucester, England but was raised in France and educated at the Lycée Henri IV, where he received a medical degree in 1841...
, 1852 – Guaritoto - Urera caracasana (Jacq.Nikolaus Joseph von JacquinNikolaus Joseph Freiherr von Jacquin or Baron Nikolaus von Jacquin. was a scientist who studied medicine, chemistry and botany....
) Gaudich. ex Griseb.August GrisebachAugust Heinrich Rudolf Grisebach was a German botanist and phytogeographer. Born in Hannover on April 17, 1814, he died at Göttingen on May 9, 1879.- Biography :...
, 1859 - Urera expansaUrera expansaUrera expansa is a species of plant in the Urticaceae family. It is endemic to Jamaica.-Source:* World Conservation Monitoring Centre 1998. . Downloaded on 23 August 2007....
(Sw.Olof SwartzOlof Peter Swartz was a Swedish botanist and taxonomist. He is best known for his taxonomic work and studies into pteridophytes...
) Griseb. (JamaicaJamaicaJamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
) - Urera glabra (Hook.William Jackson HookerSir William Jackson Hooker, FRS was an English systematic botanist and organiser. He held the post of Regius Professor of Botany at Glasgow University, and was the first Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. He enjoyed the friendship and support of Sir Joseph Banks for his exploring,...
& Arn.George Arnott Walker-ArnottGeorge Arnott Walker-Arnott was a Scottish botanist.He studied law in Edinburgh though later became a botanist, holding the position of Regius Professor of Botany in the University of Glasgow. He studied the botany of North America with Sir William Hooker and collaborated with Robert Wight in...
) Wedd. – Ōpuhe (HawaiiHawaiiHawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
) - Urera kaalaeUrera kaalaeUrera kaalae is a species of flowering plant in the nettle family, Urticaceae, that is endemic to the island of Oahu in Hawaii. It inhabits slopes and gulches in mesic forests at elevations of . Currently it is restricted to the southern and central parts of the Waianae Mountains...
WawraHeinrich Wawra von FernseeHeinrich Wawra Ritter von Fernsee, born Jindřich Blažej Vávra, was a Czech-Austrian ship surgeon, botanist and explorer....
– Ōpuhe (OahuOahuOahu or Oahu , known as "The Gathering Place", is the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands and most populous of the islands in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital Honolulu is located on the southeast coast...
in Hawaii) - Urera lobulata Urb.Ignatz UrbanIgnatz Urban was a German botanist. He is known for his contributions to the flora of the Caribbean and Brazil, and for his work as curator of the Berlin Botanical Garden. Born the son of a brewer, Urban showed an interest in botany as an undergraduate...
& EkmanErik Leonard EkmanErik Leonard Ekman was a Swedish botanist and explorer .- Biography :Erik Leonard Ekman was born into a low-income household with five children on October 14, 1883. Due to economic difficulties, the family moved to the central-Swedish town of Jönköping when he was eleven... - Urera trinervis (Hochst.Christian Ferdinand Friedrich HochstetterChristian Ferdinand Friedrich Hochstetter was a German botanist and Protestant minister who was a native of Stuttgart. He was the father of geologist Ferdinand Hochstetter ....
) Friis & Immelman, 1987 (AfricaAfricaAfrica 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...
)
Urera tenax is now Obetia tenax.