Velvet leaf
| Velvet leaf | ||||||||||||
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Velvet leaf ( Heliotropium foertherianum ) on Oahu |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Heliotropium foertherianum | ||||||||||||
| Diane & Hilger |
The velvetleaf ( Heliotropium foertherianum ) is a species in the genus of solstice from the family of the Boraginaceae .
description
The velvet leaf is an evergreen tree that reaches a height of six meters with a trunk diameter of 30 to 40 centimeters. The species often remains shrubby . The crown is formed by strong branches and can reach a diameter of up to 12 meters. The trunk is short and covered by a thick, furrowed, elongated plate-forming bark of light brown to gray color. The inner areas of the bark are light brown and fibrous.
The leaves are arranged alternately and have a strong stalk about one centimeter long. The somewhat succulent leaf blade is 7.5 to 18 inches long and 2.5 to 6 inches wide. The top and bottom are gray-green in color and covered with short, close-fitting, silky hair. Only a few lateral nerves are formed. The leaf shape is narrowly elliptical to obovate with a pointed base and rounded apex. The leaf margin is entire.
15 to 20 centimeters long inflorescences are formed from numerous densely packed white single flowers . They are terminal or in the axils of the upper leaves. The individual flowers are a maximum of 6 millimeters long and just as wide. They consist of a 5-fold corolla with a short, hairy corolla tube and five protruding tips and five small stamens. The pistil has a conical ovary and a bilobed stigma. The brown fruits are round, smooth and shiny stone fruits with a diameter of about 6 millimeters and resemble small peas. When ripe, they disintegrate into two to four semicircular stone cores.
Distribution and location requirements
The velvet leaf is native to the tropical islands and coasts of the Pacific and Indian Oceans. In Africa, of course, you can find them in Kenya, Tanzania, Madagascar and Mozambique. In Asia in China, Taiwan, Japan, India, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and the Philippines and beyond on numerous islands of the Pacific. It was naturalized in Hawaii.
The species prefers sandy coasts and is particularly common on coral islands.
Botanical history
The species was named Tournefortia argentea L. f. By Carl von Linné the Younger . assigned to the genus Tournefortia . Ivan Murray Johnston rearranged the velvet leaf as Messerschmidia argentea in 1935 , Hermann Heino Heine placed the species in the genus Argusia in 1976 as Argusia argentea . In 2000, the assignment of Carl Linné was reintroduced as the valid one. After genetic investigations of the Heliotropiaceae, it was assigned to the genus of solstices ( Heliotropium ), whereby the name Heliotropium argenteum was already given and a new species name was given after the Munich botanist Harald Förther (born 1963).
use
The species has no economic importance. It is sometimes used as an ornamental wood; in India the leaves are eaten raw as a salad or prepared as a vegetable. They should taste like parsley.
literature
- Schütt, Weisgerber, Schuck, Lang, Stimm, Roloff: Trees of the tropics . Nikol, Hamburg 2006, ISBN 3-933203-79-1 , p. 437-439 .
Web links
- as Tournefortia argentea on Useful Tropical Plants.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Tournefortia argentea. In: Germplasm Resources Information Network. USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program, accessed May 31, 2009 .
- ↑ Tournefortia argentea Lf In: Australien Plant Name Index. Integrated Botanical Information System (IBIS), accessed May 31, 2009 .
- ^ Heliotropium foertherianum Diane & Hilger. In: Australia Plant Name Index. Integrated Botanical Information System (IBIS), accessed May 31, 2009 .