Kuntheria pedunculata

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kuntheria pedunculata
Systematics
Monocots
Order : Lily-like (Liliales)
Family : Timeless plants (Colchicaceae)
Tribe : Tripladenieae
Genre : Kuntheria
Type : Kuntheria pedunculata
Scientific name of the  genus
Kuntheria
Conran & Clifford
Scientific name of the  species
Kuntheria pedunculata
( F. Muell. ) Conran & Clifford

Kuntheria pedunculata is the only species of the genus Kuntheria withinthe timeless family (Colchicaceae). This endemic occurs only in northeastern Queensland.

description

Appearance and leaf

As a specialty in the Colchicaceae family, Kuntheria pedunculata is a woody plant that can be described as a nanophanerophyte . It grows with several bare, upright trunks as a shrub and reaches heights of 1 to 2 meters. The branches grow in a zigzag shape. A rhizome with fiber roots is formed.

The alternate leaves , arranged more or less in two rows on the branches, are divided into a petiole and a leaf blade. The 0.1 to 0.5 cm long petiole is grooved at the top. The simple leaf blade is 6 to 18 cm long and 2 to 6 cm wide and is obovate to elliptical with a tapering blade base and a more or less sharply pointed upper end. The leaf blades have five to seven parallel main nerves; from the lateral nerves the network nerves go more or less at right angles like the rungs of a ladder.

The seedlings form two or more shoot axes underground , which have narrow edges in cross-section. The seedlings usually have a 4 to 6 mm long lower leaf (cataphyll). The first two true leaves have three main veins; five to seven main nerves are only present from the tenth leaf onwards.

Inflorescence and flower

The flowering period in Queensland is between August and October. Terminally or laterally in the axils of the uppermost leaves are formed on 2 to 3.5 cm long inflorescence shafts, cluster-shaped, golden , multi-flowered inflorescences . There are no bracts . The flower stalk is 1.5 to 3 cm long.

The hermaphrodite flowers are radial symmetry and threefold. The six identical, free and pink bloom cladding sheets are 6 to 9 mm long and 3 to 4 mm wide and are inverted-lanceolate with a short, pointed upper end. Nectaries are present at the base of the bracts . In the flower bud, the bracts are each folded around a stamen and release this when it blossoms ( anthesis ). There are two circles with three stamens each. The free, spreading stamens are 3 to 4 mm long and broadened at their base. The basifix anthers are 3 to 4 mm long and open with slits. The pollen grains are yellow. Three carpels are a bare, upper permanent, dreikammerigen ovary deformed, the to 4 mm with a diameter of 3 is almost spherical. Each ovary chamber contains numerous ovules in two rows . The durable stylus is 1 to 2 mm long and ends in three 2 to 3 mm long bent back stylus branches with scar tissue.

Fruit and seeds

The trilobed, loculicidal, triple capsule fruit has a diameter of 3 to 4 mm and contains many seeds. The stylus is still present at the upper end of the capsule fruit. When fresh, the seeds are white, later yellow to brown , with a length of 7 to 9 mm and a diameter of 4 to 6 mm, an irregular, spherical to angular shape. The seeds contain a hard endosperm and a very small embryo which is about 0.5 mm long and cylindrical . The fruits ripen in Queensland between November and December.

Chromosome number

The number of chromosomes is 2x = 14.

Occurrence

This endemic occurs only in northeastern Queensland. Kuntheria pedunculata has only been found on Black Mountain, Mount Spurgeon, Pinnacle Rock, Boonjee and the foothills of Mount Bartle Frere . It thrives at altitudes between 40 and 1260 meters. As an underwood plant, Kuntheria pedunculata grows in undisturbed and disturbed highland and mountain rainforests . In some locations it grows in larger numbers (often).

Systematics

The type material was collected in 1891 by S. Johnson at Mount Bartle Frere in northern Queensland. The first description was made of this kind in 1891 under the name ( Basionym ) schelhammera pedunculata F.Muell. by Ferdinand von Mueller in The Victorian Naturalist , Volume 7, p. 182. The generic name Schelhammera honors the German doctor and botanist Günther Christoph Schelhammer (1649-1716). John Godfrey Conran and Harold Trevor Clifford established a new genus Kuntheria with the type Kuntheria pedunculata (F. Muell.) Conran & Clifford in 1987 in Flora of Australia , Volume 45, p. 416 . The generic name Kuntheria honors the German botanist Karl Sigismund Kunth (1788 - 1850). The specific epithet pedunculata means "with inflorescence stem".

Kuntheria pedunculata is the only species of the genus Kuntheria from the tribe Tripladenieae within the family Colchicaceae ; it was formerly classified in the families Convallariaceae, Liliaceae or Uvulariaceae.

use

Kuntheria pedunculata can be used as an ornamental plant in shady locations in gardens and rooms.

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Rafaël Govaerts (Ed.): Kuntheria. In: World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP) - The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved March 23, 2013.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Kuntheria pedunculata data sheet from Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants Edition 6. last accessed on March 23, 2013
  3. ^ A b c d e f g John Godfrey Conran & Harold Trevor Clifford: Kuntheria in Flora of Australia , Volume 45, 1987. p. 416. Flora of Australia Online .
  4. ↑ a b Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymic plant names . Extended Edition. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin, Free University Berlin Berlin 2018. [1]
  5. ↑ Kuntheria pedunculata at Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, accessed March 23, 2013.
  6. ^ A b Kuntheria in Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. Retrieved March 23, 2013.
  7. ↑ Entry at Australian Plant Name Index = APNI . Retrieved March 23, 2013