Schefflera actinophylla
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Schefflera actinophylla as an ornamental plant |
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| Schefflera actinophylla | ||||||||||||
| ( Endl. ) Harms |
Schefflera actinophylla also Moreton Bay Schefflera , umbrella tree or Queensland Strahlenaralie called, is a species of the genus of Strahlenaralien ( Schefflera ) within the family of Araliaceae (Araliaceae). It is native to the rainforests of Queensland and northern Australia , as well as from New Guinea to Java . In some tropical countries it is considered an invasive plant . It is used as a sturdy ornamental plant for tropical parks and gardens and is suitable as a houseplant .
description
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Appearance and leaves
Schefflera actinophylla usually grows as an evergreen , fast-growing tree , which usually reaches heights of 10 to 15 meters with several trunks. The above-ground parts of the plant are bare. The bark is relatively smooth and brownish to greyish and partly slightly cracked. More rarely, it grows as an epiphyte with aerial roots .
The alternate and helically arranged leaves are divided into a petiole and a leaf blade. The petiole is 15 to 50 centimeters long. The palmate leaf blade is compound. The leaves of young specimens are usually three-part, later five-part; in older plant specimens, the leaves are 7 to 16 parts. The 4 to 8 centimeters long stalked, leathery, glabrous and thick, pointed to pointed leaves are 10 to 30–40 centimeters long and 4 to 8 centimeters wide, obovate with mostly whole, rarely partly pointed edges . A leaf often contains a few smaller ones in addition to the large ones. The 2 to 5 centimeters long stipules are fused median, axillary.
Inflorescence, flowers and fruits
At the top of the tree there are several (10–20), dold-like tufts, over a thick inflorescence stem, on long, lanceolate bracts , the upright and up to 50–80 cm long, terminal, paniculate overall inflorescences with thick, stiff rhachis, which are composed of many small, spherical, thick-stalked and red, about 20-25 millimeters in size, 10-12 flowered partial inflorescences ( heads ). They resemble squid tentacles. The bracts of the heads are stipule-like. There are no flower stalks.
The hermaphroditic, sessile, fragrant flowers are radial symmetry and five-fold with a double flower envelope . There are three bracts on the flowers. The small, ring-shaped fused sepals are up to 0.3 millimeters long and blunt. There are 7 to 18, but mostly 12 outside red, inside whitish, up to 5 millimeters long, calyptrate , flabby and thick petals . There are 7 to 18 but mostly 12 short, free stamens . The multilocular ovary is semi-inferior, with almost seated scar on a flat, disk-shaped stylopodium. There is a discus .
The dark red to at maturity -purpurfabenen, mehrsamigen drupes ( Scheinfrucht ) are 6 to 12 mm in size and slightly ribbed, with stable scars radical and fleshy flower cups . The flat (10–12) seeds (stone cores) are crescent-shaped and about 6 millimeters long.
ecology
Generative reproduction takes place in nature via the fruits that are distributed by bats or birds. The vegetative propagation can take place in nature by subsidence , since branches lying on the ground can take root.
The fleshy stone fruits are eaten by many birds and other animals, such as the rat kangaroo , the filander or flying fox species. The leaves are the preferred food of the Bennett tree kangaroos .
use
The Schefflera actinophylla is used as an ornamental plant in large tropical gardens. When it is fully grown, it gets red flowers in summer and early autumn, which sit on the tips of the upper branches and sit on radial inflorescences.
Schefflera actinophylla is also widely used as a houseplant . It is part of the regular range for hydroponic plants . Schefflera actinophylla is often confused with the more delicate Schefflera arboricola .
Systematics
It was first described in 1839 under the name ( Basionym ) Brassaia actinophylla by Stephan Ladislaus Endlicher in Novarum Stirpium Decades , 1, p. 89. Hermann August Theodor Harms placed it in the genus in 1894 in The Natural Plant Families , 3 (8), p. 36 Schefflera . Other synonyms for Schefflera actinophylla (Endl.) Harms are Aralia longipes W.Bull and Brassaia singaporensis Ridl.
supporting documents
- Datasheet from the New South Wales Flora Online of the National Herbarium of New South Wales .
- Data sheet at PIER = Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (engl.)
- Alain H. Liogier: Descriptive Flora of Puerto Rico and Adjacent Islands. Vol. IV, 1995, ISBN 0-8477-2337-2 , p. 76 ff.
- Gwen J. Harden: Flora of New South Wales. Volume 3, UNSW Press, 1992, 2002, ISBN 0-86840-172-2 , p. 87.
- B. Seeman : Journal of Botany, British and Foreign. Vol. 2, Hardwicke, 1864, p. 242, online at biodiversitylibrary.org.
Web links
- Schefflera actinophylla at US Forest Service, Fire Effects Information System (FEIS).
- Schefflera actinophylla at Weeds of Australia.
- Schefflera actinophylla in CABI Invasive Species Compendium.
Individual proof
- ↑ Maxim S. Nuraliev, Dmitry D. Sokoloff, Alexei A. Oskolsk: Floral Anatomy of Asian Schefflera (Araliaceae, Apiales): Comparing Variation of Flower Groundplan and Vascular Patterns. In: International Journal of Plant Sciences. 172 (6), 2011, pp. 735-762, doi: 10.1086 / 660189 , online (PDF; 17.6 MB).
- ↑ online at biodiversitylibrary.org.