Litsea cubeba
| Litsea cubeba | ||||||||||||
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Branch with leaves and flowers |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Litsea cubeba | ||||||||||||
| ( Lour. ) Pers. |
Litsea cubeba is a species of the genus Litsea within the laurel family(Lauraceae). The natural range is in South and Southeast Asia. Citral is madefrom the flowers, leaves and fruits.
description
Appearance and leaf
Litsea cubeba grows as a deciduous shrub or small tree and reaches heights of 8 to 10 meters. The bark of the branches is hairless or hairy.
The constantly against arranged on the branches leaves are divided into petiole and leaf blade. The petiole is 6 to 20 millimeters long and hairless. The leaf blade is lanceolate, oblong or elliptical with a wedge-shaped blade base and a pointed or pointed upper end with a length of 4 to 11 centimeters and a width of 1.1 to 2.4 centimeters. Young leaves are glaucous and hairy on the underside. Fully grown leaves are glabrous on both sides or silky hairs on the underside of the leaf. There are 6 to 16 pairs of leaf veins .
Inflorescence, flower and fruit
Litsea cubeba is dioeciously segregated ( diocesan ). Single or group-growing umbels of four to six flowers are formed as inflorescences , which bloom before or with the sprouting of the leaves. The flower stalk is 2 to 10 millimeters long, curved back or straight, bald or hairy with silky hair.
The unisexual flowers are radial symmetry and threefold. Male flowers have six broadly ovate tepals and nine fertile stamens . The stamens are hairy under the middle, the stamens of the third whorl have two short, stalked glands at the base. The rudimentary stylus is bare.
The fruit stalk is 2 to 4 millimeters long. The fruits, black when ripe, are rounded and about 5 millimeters in diameter.
The flowering period in China extends from March to April and the fruits ripen in July and August.
Chromosome number
The number of chromosomes is 2n = 24.
Occurrence
The natural range of the species is in South and Southeast Asia. In China they are found at altitudes of 300 to 3200 meters in the provinces of Anhui , Fujian , Guangdong , Guangxi , Guizhou , Hainan , Hubei , Hunan , Jiangsu , Jiangxi , Sichuan , Yunnan , Zhejiang , in the Tibet Autonomous Region and on Taiwan .
Systematics and research history
Litsea cubeba is a species of the genus Litsea in the laurel family (Lauraceae). It was first published in 1790 by Juan de Loureiro as Laurus cubeba ( Basionym ) and thus assigned to the genus of laurels ( Laurus ). Christian Hendrik Persoon placed the species in 1807 as Litsea cubeba in the genus Litsea .
There are two varieties :
- Litsea cubeba var. Cubeba : twigs, buds, both leaf sides and the umbels are hairless. The variety grows on sunny slopes, in thickets and sparse forests, on roads and near bodies of water. The natural range is in the south and southeast of Asia, on Taiwan and in China in the provinces of Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, Zhejiang and in the autonomous region of Tibet.
- Litsea cubeba var. Formosana (Nakai) Yen C.Yang & PHHuang : The twigs, buds, the underside of the leaves and the umbels are hairy and silky. The distribution area is in Taiwan and in China in the province of Fujian, in the north of Guangdong, in Jiangxi and in the south of Zhejiang.
use
The wood of the variety Litsea cubeba var. Cubeba is used for the manufacture of furniture and as construction timber . The flowers, leaves and fruits are processed into citral and used for their fragrances. The core of the fruit contains around 62% oil, which is used industrially. Roots, twigs, leaves and fruits are used medicinally to relieve swelling and pain.
literature
- Wu Zheng-yi, Peter H. Raven, Deyuan Hong (Eds.): Flora of China . Volume 7: Menispermaceae through Capparaceae . Science Press / Missouri Botanical Garden Press, Beijing / St. Louis 2008, ISBN 978-1-930723-81-8 , pp. 122, 123 (English).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g Puhua Huang, Jie Li, Xi-wen Li, Henk van der Werff: Litsea cubeba , in Flora of China , Volume 7, p. 122.
- ↑ a b Litsea cubeba at Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, accessed January 25, 2017.
- ^ Laurus cubeba at Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, accessed October 8, 2013.
- ↑ a b Puhua Huang, Jie Li, Xi-wen Li, Henk van der Werff: Litsea cubeba var.cubeba , in Flora of China , Volume 7, p. 122.
- ↑ Puhua Huang, Jie Li, Xi-wen Li, Henk van der Werff: Litsea cubeba var.formosana , in Flora of China , Volume 7, p. 123.