Abutilon listeri

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Abutilon listeri
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Malvales
Family: Malvaceae
Genus: Abutilon
Species:
A. listeri
Binomial name
Abutilon listeri
Baker f., 1893 [1]

Abutilon listeri , commonly known as the lantern flower, is a tropical shrub in the Malvaceae or mallow family. It is endemic to Christmas Island, an Australian territory in the north-eastern Indian Ocean. Its specific epithet honours British zoologist and plant collector Joseph Jackson Lister, who visited the island on HMS Egeria in 1887. [2]

Contents

Description

Abutilon listeri is a common shrub on Christmas Island, growing to 1–3 m in height. The leaves are circular to broadly ovate, either entire or weakly crenate, and about 90–160 mm long. The yellow flowers occur in loose, terminal panicles. [2]

Distribution and habitat

Found only on Christmas Island, the lantern flower grows in natural clearings and the rainforest margin behind the sea cliffs on the lower terraces, and is often found in secondary growth and along paths and tracks. It responds well to environmental disturbance. [2]

Taxonomy

The lantern flower is closely related to the sympatric A. auritum; both have a paniculate inflorescence and fewer than 15 mericarps. [2]

Related Research Articles

<i>Abutilon</i> Genus of flowering plants

Abutilon is a large genus of flowering plants in the mallow family, Malvaceae. It is distributed throughout the tropics and subtropics of the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Australia. General common names include Indian mallow and velvetleaf; ornamental varieties may be known as room maple, parlor maple, or flowering maple. The genus name is an 18th-century Neo-Latin word that came from the Arabic ’abū-ṭīlūn, the name given by Avicenna to this or a similar genus.

<i>Abutilon megapotamicum</i> Species of flowering plant

Abutilon megapotamicum or Callianthe megapotamica is a species of Abutilon native to Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. It is a shrub growing to 2.5 metres tall, with leaves 5–8 centimetres (2.0–3.1 in) long, ovate to shallowly three-lobed. The flowers are orange-yellow with a red base, with five petals about 4 centimetres (1.6 in) long.

<i>Abutilon pictum</i> Species of flowering plant

Abutilon pictum, syn. Abutilon striatum (disputed), is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae. It is native to southern Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. The plant has become naturalised in Central America, and is used in horticulture. Common names include redvein abutilon, red vein Indian mallow, redvein flowering maple, Chinese-lantern and red vein Chinese lanterns.

<i>Hakea bakeriana</i> Species of shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to New South Wales

Hakea bakeriana is a shrub in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to the Central Coast of New South Wales. It is a dense shrub with sharply pointed, cylinder-shaped leaves and pink to crimson flowers in groups of between four and twelve. The fruit is a rough, wrinkled follicle which terminates in a short beak.

<i>Lepidodactylus listeri</i> Species of lizard

Lepidodactylus listeri, also known commonly as Lister's gecko or the Christmas Island chained gecko, is a species of gecko, a lizard in the family Gekkonidae, endemic to Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean. It is currently extinct in the wild.

<i>Abutilon julianae</i> Species of flowering plant

Abutilon julianae is a small shrub of the genus Abutilon believed endemic to Norfolk Island and nearby Phillip Island.

<i>Abutilon grandifolium</i> Species of flowering plant

Abutilon grandifolium, the hairy Indian mallow, is a large shrub that is up to 3 m (9.8 ft) high with broad, 3–18 cm (1.2–7.1 in) leaf blades. Flowers are axillary, with a yellow corolla 2–3.5 cm (0.8–1.4 in) across, composed of petals 1–1.5 cm (0.4–0.6 in) long. The fruits are ovoid-globular schizocarps that are 1–1.5 cm (0.4–0.6 in) in diameter and composed of ten shortly beaked mericarps, containing 2-3 seeds each.

Joseph Jackson Lister FRS was a British zoologist and plant collector from Leytonstone who collected biological specimens during travels in Africa, Asia, Australasia and the Pacific region.

<i>Herissantia crispa</i> Species of flowering plant

Herissantia crispa is a species of flowering plant in the mallow family known by the common names bladdermallow and curly abutilon. It is native to the tropical Americas but it can be found throughout the tropical and warmer temperate world as an introduced species and sometimes a weed. This is a perennial or sometimes annual herb growing up to about 1.5 meters in maximum stem length, usually taking a trailing or creeping form. It is coated in whitish hairs. The oval or heart-shaped leaves are up to 7 centimeters long with rippled edges. The inflorescence is a solitary flower emerging from a leaf axil, borne on a long-haired pedicel which is half erect and then jointed downward. The flower has five pale yellow oval petals each up to a centimeter long. The fruit is a lantern-like inflated sphere ribbed into segments. It is up to 2 centimeters wide, coated in long hairs, and dehiscent, each segment containing 2 or 3 black kidney-shaped seeds.

Zehneria alba is a species of flowering plant in the cucumber and gourd family, Cucurbitaceae. It is endemic to Christmas Island, an Australian territory in the northeastern Indian Ocean. The specific epithet is from the Latin albus (white), referring to the colour of the flowers.

Colubrina pedunculata is a shrub in the family Rhamnaceae. It is endemic to Christmas Island, an Australian territory in the north-eastern Indian Ocean. Its specific epithet comes from the Latin pedunculatus, referring to the long and conspicuous peduncle of the inflorescence.

Peperomia rossii is a species of plant in the family Piperaceae. It is endemic to Christmas Island, an Australian territory in the northeastern Indian Ocean. Its specific epithet honours the Clunies-Ross family which established the Flying Fish Cove settlement on Christmas Island in 1888.

Phreatia listeri, commonly known as the Christmas Island caterpillar orchid, is a plant in the orchid family and is an epiphyte with four to six flat, blunt leaves in a fan-like arrangement. A large number of tiny, greenish white flowers are arranged along a thin flowering stem. It is endemic to Christmas Island.

<i>Abutilon pitcairnense</i> Species of plant


Abutilon pitcairnense, the yellow fatu or yellow fautu, is a critically endangered perennial plant that is native to Pitcairn Island. It was once considered extinct, until a single plant was discovered on the island in 2003. At that time, cuttings and seed were used to propagate several plants at a nursery on the island and botanical gardens in Ireland and England. The last wild surviving plant died in a landslide in 2005, making the plant extinct in the wild.

<i>Abutilon otocarpum</i> Species of flowering plant

Abutilon otocarpum, the desert lantern, is a small shrub of the family Malvaceae found in most parts of Australia.

<i>Abutilon oxycarpum</i> Species of flowering plant

Abutilon oxycarpum, known as flannel weed, straggly lantern-bush, and small-leaved abutilon, is a malvaceous plant native to eastern Australia. It is found on hillsides or floodplains on red sand and limestone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wildlife of Christmas Island</span>

The wildlife of Christmas Island is composed of the flora and fauna of this isolated island in the tropical Indian Ocean. Christmas Island is the summit plateau of an underwater volcano. It is mostly clad in tropical rainforest and has karst, cliffs, wetlands, coasts and sea. It is a small island with a land area of 135 km2 (52 sq mi), 63% of which has been declared a National park. Most of the rainforest remains intact and supports a large range of endemic species of animals and plants.

Abutilon hulseanum, the mauve or red Indian mallow, is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae.

<i>Abutilon leucopetalum</i> Species of mallow

Abutilon leucopetalum commonly known as desert Chinese lantern, is a flowering plant in the family Malvaceae and is endemic to Australia. It is a small shrub with yellow flowers and branches densely covered with soft hairs.

<i>Abutilon fraseri</i> Species of mallow

Abutilon fraseri commonly known as dwarf lantern-flower, is a flowering plant in the family Malvaceae and is endemic to Australia. It is a small shrub with yellow flowers.

References

Notes

  1. Baker, E.G. (1893).
  2. 1 2 3 4 Flora of Australia Online.

Sources