Myrcia skeldingi
| Myrcia skeldingi | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Myrcia skeldingi | ||||||||||||
| Proctor |
Myrcia skeldingi (synonym: Myrcia skeldingii ) is an extinct tree from the myrtle family(Myrtaceae). It wasendemicto the Mason River savannah in Jamaica . The type epithet honors the botanist Arthur Donald Skelding, who for the first time referred to the botanical biodiversity in the type locality.
features
Myrcia skeldingi was a small tree that reached a height of 5 meters. The youngest branches, the flower stalks, the central ribs on the underside of the leaf and the upper branches of the inflorescence were covered with fine line bristles. The line bristles disappeared with age. The leaves were leathery and had no translucent spots. The nearly stuck leaves were 5.5 to 10 inches long and 3.5 to 6 inches wide. The thick petioles were 1 to 2 millimeters long. The leaf shape was broadly elliptical to ovate-elliptical. The leaf blade was mainly rounded or blunt at the tip. The leaf base was rounded or almost heart-shaped. The midrib was indented on the upper side of the leaf and protruded from the underside of the leaf. The fine-networked leaf veins emerged on both sides of the leaf, but stronger on the underside of the leaf. The terminal, broad, multi-flowered panicles were 7 to 14 centimeters long. The flower stalk was 0.5 to 1 centimeter long. The outermost branches ended in a dichasium with three to five flowers. The 1.5 millimeter long calyx tube was hairless and elongated above the ovary. The four calyx lobes were approximately 0.75 millimeters long. The petals were white and hairless. The dust bag was two-chambered. The pen, about 3.5 millimeters long, had a shield-shaped scar. The spherical berries were approximately 6 millimeters in circumference and were deep red when ripe. They contained one to three seeds with a length of 3 to 4 millimeters.
die out
The last population was found in riverside scrub along the Mason River on the border between Clarendon Parish and Saint Ann Parish . The species has not been detected since 1972 and is believed to be extinct.
literature
- George Richardson Proctor: Further New Records of Myrtaceae from Jamaica. In: Rhodora. Journal of the New England Botanical Club. Volume 60. 1958: pp. 323-326.
- Charles Dennis Adams, George Richardson Proctor, RW Read: Flowering Plants of Jamaica . University of the West Indies, 1972
Web links
- Myrcia skeldingii in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2008 Posted by: Kelly, DL, 1998. Retrieved on 18 May, 2009.
- Herable specimen from Myrcia skeldingi
