Wheel tree
Wheel tree | ||||||||||||
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Radbaum ( Trochodendron aralioides ) |
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Systematics | ||||||||||||
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Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
Trochodendron | ||||||||||||
Siebold & Zucc. | ||||||||||||
Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
Trochodendron aralioides | ||||||||||||
Siebold & Zucc. |
The wheel tree ( Trochodendron aralioides ) is the only species of the therefore monotypical genus Trochodendron in the family Trochodendraceae . It is native to Japan , the Ryūkyū Islands, and Taiwan .
description
Appearance and leaves
The wheel tree grows as an evergreen tree that reaches heights of up to 20 meters, but usually remains significantly lower in culture, or it grows as a shrub . All parts of the plant are bare. The protruding branches have brown or gray bark .
The leaves are alternate and almost tufted at the branch ends. The petiole is 3 to 7 inches long. The leathery, simple leaf blades are about 6 to 12 centimeters long and 2.5 to 7 centimeters wide, rhombic-ovoid to obovate with a blunt or pointed upper end. On each side of the midrib five to seven lateral veins are formed. The base is wedge-shaped, the leaf margin sawn like a gland. The upper side of the leaf is dark green and shiny, the lower side of the leaf is lighter than the upper side. Stipules are missing.
blossoms
The flowering period extends from May to June. Ten to twenty flowers are in terminal, weakly branched, racemose inflorescences , which have a diameter of 5 to 13 centimeters. The flower stalks are 1.5 to 3.5 inches long.
The greenish, hermaphrodite flowers have a diameter of up to 18 millimeters and have no flower envelope . At the edge of a wide, green discus , 40 to 70 stamens 4.5 to 5 millimeters long stand out. The anthers are long and yellow. The four to eleven carpels are laterally fused together.
Fruits and seeds
The four to eleven multi-seeded follicles are fused at the base with the flower axis to form a dark gray collective fruit with a diameter of 7 to 10 millimeters. The brown or black seeds are 1.5 to 2 or 3 to 3.5 millimeters long and spindle-shaped.
Chromosome number
The number of chromosomes is 2n = 40 or 2n = 38.
Distribution and location requirements
The distribution area of the wheel tree extends over Taiwan , Japan and the Ryūkyū Islands . There it grows in evergreen forests or steppes and dry forests on moderately nutrient-rich, weakly acidic to weakly alkaline, sandy-loamy to loamy soils at altitudes of 300 to 2700 meters. It prefers light-shady to partially shaded locations, is moderately frost-resistant and loves warmth.
Systematics
Trochodendron aralioides is the only species of the therefore monotypical genus Trochodendron in the family Trochodendraceae . Only one other genus, Tetracentron, is included in the family, which is also monotypical.
The generic name Trochodendron is derived from the Greek words "trochos" for wheel and "dendron" for tree. "Trochos" refers to the stamens arranged in a ring. The specific epithet aralioides indicates the similarity to some species of the genus Aralia .
proof
literature
- Andreas Roloff, Andreas Bärtels: Flora of the woods. Purpose, properties and use . 3rd, corrected edition. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 2008, ISBN 978-3-8001-5614-6 , pp. 657 .
- Dezhi Fu, Peter K. Endress: Trochodendraceae : genus Trochodendron and species Trochodendron aralioides . In: Wu Zhengyi, Peter H. Raven, Deyuan Hong (Eds.): Flora of China . Volume 6: Caryophyllaceae through Lardizabalaceae . Science Press / Missouri Botanical Garden Press, Beijing / St. Louis 2001, ISBN 1-930723-05-9 , pp. 124 (English).
- Shing-Fan Huang, Tsan-Piao Lin: Migration of Trochodendron aralioides (Trochodendraceae) in Taiwan and its adjacent areas . In: Botanical Studies . tape 47 , 2006, p. 83–88 ( online (PDF; 426 kB) [accessed on September 11, 2010]).
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g Roloff et al .: Flora der Gehölze , p. 657
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Dezhi Fu, Peter K. Endress: Trochodendraceae : genus Trochodendron and species Trochodendron aralioides . In: Wu Zhengyi, Peter H. Raven, Deyuan Hong (Eds.): Flora of China . Volume 6: Caryophyllaceae through Lardizabalaceae . Science Press / Missouri Botanical Garden Press, Beijing / St. Louis 2001, ISBN 1-930723-05-9 , pp. 124 (English).
- ↑ Trochodendron aralioides at Tropicos.org. In: IPCN Chromosome Reports . Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis
- ↑ Trochodendron aralioides. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), accessed September 11, 2010 .
- ↑ Helmut Genaust: Etymological dictionary of botanical plant names. 3rd, completely revised and expanded edition. Nikol, Hamburg 2005, ISBN 3-937872-16-7 , p. 660 (reprint from 1996).