Gastonia lionnetii
| Gastonia lionnetii | ||||||||||||
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| Gastonia lionnetii | ||||||||||||
| F. Friedmann |
Gastonia lionnetii is a flowering plant in the family of the Araliaceae (Araliaceae). This extremely rare species is endemic to the Seychelles island of Mahé .
description
Vegetative characteristics
Gastonia lionnetii grows as a tree that reaches a height of up to 5 meters. The gray-brown bark is slightly cracked. The leaf blade is pinnate unpaired with three to four pairs of pinnate leaves. The nine or ten secondary leaf veins are looped (brochidodrom) and the leaf surface is covered with blisters.
Generative characteristics
The upright, up to 40 cm high total inflorescence standing on a 1.5 to 2.5 cm long inflorescence stem is branched and consists of five to six racemose partial inflorescences, which in turn contain doldy partial inflorescences . The umbellate partial inflorescences have six to nine flowers and lapsed bracts . The flower stalk is 1 to 1.5 cm long. The bowl-shaped, creamy yellow flower has a diameter of 10 to 15 mm. The five petals fused to about two thirds of their length. There are 26 to 29 stamens present. The ovary is nine to eleven chambered. There are 8 to 13 scars. The purple-black berries are 8 to 9 mm in diameter.
Habitat and endangerment status
Gastonia lionnetii is classified by the IUCN as “critically endangered”. There are currently only two mature trees in the wild. One grows in a secondary forest near Mission, the other on a tea plantation near Casse Dent. The somewhat overgrown place near Mission was carefully cleared in 1994 and selected endemic trees remained. A nearby seedling is believed to be from the parent plant. The disadvantage for the survival of this species is that the young plants do not survive long and the ongoing clearing in this place.
Taxonomy
The first description of Gastonia lionnetii was made in 1987 by Francis Friedmann in the Bulletin du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Section B, Adansonia. Botanique Phytochimie , 8, p. 253. A synonym for Gastonia lionnetii F.Friedmann is Polyscias lionnetii (F.Friedmann) Lowry & GMPlunkett (published in Porter Prescott Lowry II & Gregory M.Plunkett: Recircumscription of Polyscias (Araliaceae) to include six related genera, with a new infrageneric classification and a synopsis of species , In: Plant Diversity and Evolution , Volume 128, 2010, p. 79). The epithet lionnetii honors to the Seychelles living Mauritian naturalist Guy Lionnet . The type material with the herbarium number Friedmann 3902 was collected on the road to Mission and Casse Dent, at an altitude of 400 meters, Mahe, Seychelles.
literature
- Francis Friedmann: Revision des Araliaceae des Seychelles , In: Bulletin du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle , Section B - Adansonia - Botanique Phytochimie , Volume 8, 1987, p. 253. First description scanned at biodiversitylibrary.org .
- Rosemarie Wise: A fragile Eden: Portraits of the endemic flowering plants of the granitic Seychelles , p. 46, Princeton University Press, 1998, ISBN 978-069-104-817-8
Individual evidence
- ↑ Polyscias lionnetii in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2011. Posted by: Nature Protection Trust of Seychelles, 1998. Retrieved on October 10, 2011th
- ↑ a b First description scanned at biodiversitylibrary.org .
- ^ Gastonia lionnetii at Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis