Kadua laxiflora
| Kadua laxiflora | ||||||||||||
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Kadua laxiflora |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Kadua laxiflora | ||||||||||||
| H. Mann |
Kadua laxiflora is a plant from the genus Kadua in the family of the Rubiaceae (Rubiaceae). It is endemic to Hawaii .
description
Vegetative characteristics
Kadua laxiflora grows as a dwarf shrub whose upright, occasionally ascending trunks reach lengths of around 0.3 to 0.6 meters. The trunks have a strictly square cross-section. The bark is hairless.
The constantly against arranged on the branches leaves are divided into a petiole and leaf blade. The more or less slightly winged petiole is 0.1 to 1.5 centimeters long. The simple, thin, paper- to membrane-like leaf blade is 6 to 22 centimeters long and 1 to 7 centimeters wide, from elliptical to elliptical-obovate to elliptical-ovoid, occasionally also lanceolate. The top of the leaf blade, like the paler colored underside, is glabrous. The spider base tapers to a point, the spider tip is pointed to long and tapered to a point and the edge of the spread is entire. Several pairs of inconspicuous side veins branch off from each side of the central leaf vein and the higher-order leaf veins form an indistinct, net-like pattern. The stipules resemble the deciduous leaves, are fused with the base of the petiole and thus form a spiky-tipped leaf sheath . The triangular leaf sheath is 0.5 to 1.4 centimeters long and has a 0.2 to 1.1 centimeter long, narrow spike tip.
Generative characteristics
The terminal, panicle-like , zymous inflorescences are up to 30 centimeters long and stand on an inflorescence stalk. The inflorescences are hairless and more or less glaucous . The inflorescences contain several individual flowers.
The four-fold flowers are radial symmetry . The top-shaped flower cup is 0.1 to 0.15 centimeters long. The sepals are fused together to form a calyx tube. The calyx lobes are egg-shaped to lanceolate with a length of 0.15 to 0.5 centimeters and a width of around 0.1 to 0.2 centimeters. The hairless, fleshy, greenish white petals are fused together in the shape of a salver. The corolla tube reaches a length of 0.5 to 1.4 centimeters and has a more or less square cross-section. The four crown lobes reach lengths of around 0.1 to 0.4 centimeters. The bilobe stylus either bald or hairy in the lower part.
The capsule fruits have a length of 0.2 to 0.3 centimeters and a thickness of 0.3 to 0.4 centimeters circular to approximately spherical-top-shaped. The endocarp is thinly lignified. Each of the fruits contains several dark brown seeds. They are more or less irregularly shaped like a wedge and the seed coat is grainy dark.
Occurrence and endangerment
The natural range of Kadua laxiflora is on some islands belonging to Hawaii . Kadua laxiflora is an endemic that was originally found on the islands of Lānaʻi , Maui and Molokaʻi . The deposits on Lānaʻi and Molokaʻi are now considered extinct.
Kadua laxiflora grows in moderately damp to damp forests.
Kadua laxiflora is classified as "critically endangered" in the IUCN Red List and is already considered extinct on the islands of Lānaʻi and Molokaʻi. Displacement by invasive species and habitat destruction by introduced and feral animals are cited as the main reasons for endangerment. The total population, which comprises a population of 25 plants , is seen as declining.
Taxonomy
It was first described as Kadua laxiflora in 1867 by Horace Mann junior in Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f Kadua laxiflora. In: Flora of the Hawaiian Islands. www.botany.si.edu/pacificislandbiodiversity/hawaiianflora, accessed on January 30, 2017 (English).
- ↑ a b c Kadua laxiflora in the Red List of Threatened Species of the IUCN 2016. Posted by: M. Keir, SM Gon, J. Kwon, VL Caraway, M. Chau, M. Sporck-Koehler, N. Sugii & M. Bruegmann , 2016. Retrieved January 30, 2017.
- ↑ Kadua laxiflora at Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, accessed January 30, 2017.
