Picrasma

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Picrasma
Bitterwood (Picrasma quassioides)

Bitterwood ( Picrasma quassioides )

Systematics
Nuclear eudicotyledons
Rosids
Eurosiden II
Order : Sapindales (Sapindales)
Family : Bitter ash family (Simaroubaceae)
Genre : Picrasma
Scientific name
Picrasma
flower

Picrasma , also known as bitterwood , is a genus of deciduous trees in the tropics and subtropics of America and Asia. The species Picrasma quassioides , which like the genus is called bitterwood, is known for its remarkable autumn colors.

description

The genus Picrasma includes deciduous trees with light to dark reddish brown, bare branches that are densely covered with elongated gray cork pores and have a distinct marrow zone . The buds are shiny and silky, hairy silvery brown. The terminal buds are 5 millimeters long. The bark has a bitter taste.

leaves

The leaves are arranged alternately and are heaped at the branch ends. They are pinnate unpaired, the base of the petioles and the petioles of the leaflets are often formed as pulvinus . The leaflets are entire or serrate. The stipules are shed early or remain.

Flowers and fruits

The flowers are unisexual or polygamous . They are arranged in loose, axillary panicles . The single flower opposite bract is small or is dropped early. The single flowers are four or five-fold and have a flower stalk divided in the lower half. The sepals are small, free or partially fused. The petals hardly or not at all overlap. They are pointed, longer than the sepals and are retained in female flowers. The four to five stamens are inserted at the base of the four to five-lobed disc . The two to five carpels are free and each have an ovule . They are regressed in male flowers. The stylus is fused at the base, the scar is free.

The fruits are in panicles up to 10 centimeters long and 25 centimeters wide. The 6 to 7 millimeter large, egg-shaped, spherical stone fruits are arranged in a ring. The thin, juicy, fleshy mesocarp turns red when ripe.

Chemical characteristics

The occurrence of petroselinic acid in Picrasma and its absence in Ailanthus supports the formation of a separate subgroup with Picrasma as well as Holacantha and Castela within the Simaroubacea, which is also supported by genetic studies.

Distribution and location requirements

Representatives of the genus can be found in tropical and subtropical Asia (from the Himalayas to Japan , Malaysia and on the Fiji islands) and America.

Systematics

The bitterwood ( Picrasma ) is a genus in the bitter ash family (Simaroubaceae). Synonyms of the genus are Aeschrion Vell. and Picraena Lindl. The genus includes about nine species, including:

  • Picrasma chinensis  P.Y. Chen : It occurs in the Chinese provinces of Guangxi, Xizang and Yunnan at altitudes between 600 and 1400 meters.
  • Picrasma crenata  Engl.
  • Picrasma excelsa  (Sw.) Planch. : It occurs in Venezuela, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and on the islands of the Caribbean, Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, in the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Martinique, Guadeloupe, St. Vincent, Antigua, Barbados, Dominica, St. Kitts and Nevis , St. Lucia, Montserrat and the Virgin Islands.
  • Picrasma mexicana  Brandegee
  • Picrasma quassioides  (D. Don) Benn. : It occurs in India, Bhutan, Nepal, China, Taiwan, Korea and Japan.

proof

literature

  • Andreas Roloff , Andreas Bärtels: Flora of the woods. Purpose, properties and use. With a winter key from Bernd Schulz. 3rd, corrected edition. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 2008, ISBN 978-3-8001-5614-6 , p. 456.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Roloff et al .: Flora of the Woods
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Picrasma. In: Flora of China Vol. 11. www.eFloras.org, p. 101 , accessed on April 4, 2010 (English).
  3. ↑ Tsujimoto, M. and Koyanagi, H. (1933) Bull. Chem. Soc. Japan 8, 161
  4. ↑ T. Stuhlfauth, H. Fock, H. Huber , K. Klug: The distribution of fatty acids including petroselinic and tariric acids in the fruit and seed oils of the Pittosporaceae, Araliaceae, Umbelliferae, Simarubaceae and Rutaceae. In: Biochemical Systematics and Ecology. 13, 1985, pp. 447-453, doi : 10.1016 / 0305-1978 (85) 90091-2 .
  5. ↑ W. Clayton Joshua, Edwino S. Fernando, Pamela S. Soltis & Douglas E. Soltis: Molecular phylogeny of the tree-of-heaven family (Simaroubaceae) based on chloroplast and nuclear markers , In: International Journal of Plant Sciences , Volume 168, Issue 9, 2007, pp. 1325-1339. doi : 10.1086 / 521796
  6. ↑ a b c Picrasma. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), accessed June 12, 2017 .
  7. ^ Search result for the genus Picrasma. In: The Plant List. Retrieved January 3, 2012 .

Web links

Commons : Picrasma  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files