Pseudopanax crassifolius
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Pseudopanax crassifolius , fully grown tree |
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| Pseudopanax crassifolius | ||||||||||||
| ( Sol. Ex A. Cunn. ) K. Koch |
Pseudopanax crassifolius is a species of the genus Pseudopanax within the Araliaceae family. It is common in New Zealand .
description
Vegetative characteristics
Pseudopanax crassifolius grows as a tree that reaches heights of up to 15 meters and trunk diameters of up to 50 centimeters. It is unbranched in the lower area and only forms a branched tree crown in the upper area . The bark is initially clearly furrowed and dark and later becomes lighter. The wood is hard.
There is heterophyllia . The leaves are arranged alternately. Only in seedlings are the leaves sessile or very short stalked and the leaf blade is pinnate with one to three pinnate leaves that are roughly toothed. On young specimens, the dark green, leathery leaves are up to 1 meter long, narrow, linear and curved downwards; their raised midrib is light cream yellow and the leaf margin is sharply serrated, with the upper end of each leaf tooth perpendicular to the midrib and not thickened. On fully grown specimens, the dark green leaves with a width of 2 to 3 centimeters and a length of 10 to 20 centimeters are significantly shorter than on young specimens. They are almost sessile or stalked up to 10 millimeters long, with the base of the petiole widening around the branch. Their leaf blades are narrow or elliptical-wedge-shaped to lanceolate or linear-ovate with a pointed or blunt upper end and a smooth to wavy or roughly serrated leaf margin.
The juvenile form of Pseudopanax crassifolius lasts between 15 and 20 years and is very easy to recognize: its leaves are all attached to an unbranched trunk. As the tree gets older, it begins to branch out at the top. The specimen only takes on a typical tree shape with a treetop when it is blooming.
Generative characteristics
The terminal, umbellate , irregularly composed inflorescence consists of five to ten first-order branches about 6 centimeters long, and the umbel are sometimes arranged in clusters . The hermaphrodite flowers are fivefold. The five carpels are fused to form a five- chamber ovary. Each ovary chamber contains only one ovule . The five branches of the style are fused and at most the uppermost ends are free. The fleshy fruit, dark purple in color when ripe, is 4 to 5 millimeters in diameter and almost spherical and contains four to five seeds that easily separate from each other. The branches of the style are preserved on the upper disk. The grooved seeds are 2.2 to 3.5, rarely up to 5.5 millimeters wide and ovate.
The number of chromosomes is 2n = 48.
Expression of the typical vegetative characteristics through special selection pressure
One of the theories for this strange change in appearance is that the young plant had to protect itself from being eaten by the moa . After the plant has reached a height where this danger no longer exists because the moa can no longer reach it, it transforms into a "normal" tree. A closely related species in the Chatham Islands , Pseudopanax chathamicus Kirk , which evolved in the absence of moas, does not show these changes.
Occurrence
From Pseudopanax crassifolius there are in New Zealand localities on the North and South Island and on Stewart Iceland . Pseudopanax crassifolius often thrives from the lowlands to the lower mountain forests and in the bushland in large parts of New Zealand at altitudes of 0 to 750 meters.
Taxonomy
The name ( Basionym ) Aralia crassifolia was already used by Daniel Solander , but a valid first description was given in 1839 by Allan Cunningham in XXVI. — Florae insularum Novae Zelandiae precursor; or a specimen of the botany of the Islands of New Zealand in Annals of Natural History , Volume 2, p. 214. Karl Heinrich Koch published the genus Pseudopanax with the type species Pseudopanax in 1859 in Wochenschrift für Härtnerei und botany , Volume 2, p. 366 crassifolius (Sol. ex A. Cunn.) K. Koch auf. Other synonyms for Pseudopanax crassifolius (Sol. Ex A. Cunn.) K.Koch are. Hedera crassifolia (Sol. Ex A. Cunn.) A. Gray , Panax crassifolius (Sol. Ex A. Cunn.) Decne. & Planch. , Pseudopanax crassifolius var. Solandri Voss nom. inval., Aralia heterophylla A. Cunn. ex Hook. , Panax pentadactylon Decne. & Planch. , Panax tridactylon Decne. & Planch., Panax coriaceus Rule , Aralia cookii B.S.Williams , Panax longissimus Hook. f. , Panax pentadactylum Decne. & Planch. ex Hook. f. , Panax tridactylum Decne. & Planch. ex Hook. f. , Aralia crassifolia var. Integrifolia Hibberd , Aralia trifoliata Linden ex Hibberd , Pseudopanax crassifolius var. Trifoliolatus Kirk , Pseudopanax crassifolius var. Unifoliatus Kirk , Aralia quinquevulnera Voss , Pseudopanax crassifolius var. Coriaceus (usually) Voss , Pseudopanax crassifolius var. Pentadactylus (Decne. & Planch.) Voss .
swell
- Pseudopanax crassifolius at Flora of New Zealand .
- Pseudopanax crassifolius at New Zealand Plant Conservation Network .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Pseudopanax crassifolius at New Zealand Plant Conservation Network .
- ^ JT Salmon: The Native Trees of New Zealand , Reed Publishing, Wellington, New Zealand, 1973, ISBN 0-589-01340-8 .
- ↑ a b Pseudopanax crassifolius in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. Retrieved August 22, 2014.
- ^ Pseudopanax crassifolius at Flora of New Zealand .
- ↑ First publication scanned at biodiversitylibrary.org .
- ↑ Pseudopanax crassifolius at Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, accessed August 22, 2014.
- ↑ Rafaël Govaerts (Ed.): Data sheet at World Checklist of Selected Plant Families of the Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Last accessed on August 22, 2014
literature
- Alan Marshall, Lancewood , Indra Publishers, Australia, 1999. ISBN 0-9585805-1-0 .
