Achyranthes arborescens

Last updated

Achyranthes arborescens
Conservatoire botanique national de Brest-Achyanthes arborescens-15 07 04 Philweb-03 (19228701129).jpg
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Amaranthaceae
Genus: Achyranthes
Species:
A. arborescens
Binomial name
Achyranthes arborescens
Synonyms [4]

Centrostachys arborescens(R.Br.) Standl.

Achyranthes arborescens (common names - Chaff tree, Soft-wood) [1] is a plant in the Amaranthaceae family endemic to Norfolk Island. [5] It is a critically endangered species under the Australian Federal government's Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. [1]

Contents

Description

A. arborescens is a soft-wooded tree growing up to a height of 9 m. Its leaves are on slender stalks which are 5–15 mm long and have hairs lying close to them (appressed hairs). The leaf blades are elliptic to slightly oblanceolate, and from 50 to 80 mm long (sometimes 30–100 mm long) by 20–35 mm broad (with the juvenile foliage being larger). The base of the blade is acute and attenuates to the stalk. The leaf margins have irregular and very shallowly rounded teeth, and are yellow-green or dark green above, and light green below. The margins are very minutely fringed, and there are appressed hairs on the midrib beneath. The inflorescence is a spike and is terminal on the side branches. It has a covering of long soft weak hairs which are clearly separated but not sparse and is 2–4 cm long. The inflorescence stalk is 1–2 cm long. There are four brownish red tepals (7–9 mm by 1.8–2.1 mm), and four stamens. The anther filaments are 0.7–1.5 mm long. [5] There are 20-90 white or pale yellow flowers in an inflorescence. The perianth is a pale amber and the flowers are enclosed by shining pink, sharp-pointed bracts. [1] The fruit is enclosed in a bladder-like sac which does not open at maturity to release the seed. It is cylindrical and 2–2.5 mm by 1–1.5 mm. [5]

It flowers and fruits from November to March. [5]

Habitat

It appears to prefer growing by streams and in damp forests. [5]

Taxonomy and naming

It was first described by Robert Brown in 1810, [2] [3] and he gave it the specific epithet, arborescens, from the Latin, arborescens, "becoming a tree" or "tree-like". [6]

Conservation status

A. arborescens has been declared "critically endangered" under the EPBC Act. Despite setting copious seed, seedling recruitment is reduced by cattle grazing, by high levels of seed predation from the introduced rat population, and by introduced weeds such as Solanum mauritianum and Homalanthus populifolius which require a similar habitat to A. arborescens and possibly may out-compete it. Additionally the introduced vine Ipomoea cairica sometimes smothers the trees. Tourism also negatively impacts this tiny population. [1]

Related Research Articles

<i>Callicarpa pedunculata</i> Species of flowering plant

Callicarpa pedunculata is a shrub or small tree in the Lamiaceae family native to both Queensland and New South Wales.

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

Cuttsia viburnea is a shrub or bushy tree which has toothed leaves and panicles of white flowers, and that is endemic to eastern Australia. It is sometimes called silver-leaved cuttsia, and confusingly also native elderberry, honey bush or native hydrangea. C. viburnea is the only species assigned to the genus Cuttsia.

<i>Hakea cycloptera</i> Species of shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to South Australia

Hakea cycloptera, commonly known as elm-seed hakea, is a shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to South Australia. It is a small spreading shrub with an abundance of pale pink or white flowers from December to August.

<i>Achyranthes aspera</i> Species of plant

Achyranthes aspera is a species of plant in the family Amaranthaceae. It is distributed throughout the tropical world. It can be found in many places growing as an introduced species and a common weed. It is an invasive species in some areas, including many Pacific Islands environments.

<i>Oxylobium arborescens</i> Species of legume

Oxylobium arborescens, commonly known as the tall shaggy-pea, is a species of flowering shrub to small tree in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It has elliptic dark green leaves and yellow pea flowers.

<i>Leionema phylicifolium</i> Species of shrub

Leionema phylicifolium, commonly known as alpine phebalium, is a shrub that is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It is a small shrub with green, smooth, leathery leaves and pale yellow flowers in spring.

<i>Convolvulus erubescens</i> Species of plant

Convolvulus erubescens, commonly known as blushing bindweed, or Australian bindweed, is a perennial herbaceous plant in the family Convolvulaceae that is endemic to Australia.

<i>Hakea leucoptera</i> Species of plant in the family Proteaceae endemic to Australia

Hakea leucoptera, commonly known as silver needlewood, needle hakea, pin bush or water tree and as booldoobah in Koori language, is a shrub or small tree with rigid, cylindrical, sharply pointed leaves and white, cream-coloured or yellow flowers in late spring and early summer. It is widespread and common in central parts of the Australian mainland.

<i>Dysoxylum arborescens</i> Species of plant in the family Meliaceae

Dysoxylum arborescens, commonly known in Australia as Mossman mahogany, is a small tree in the mahogany family Meliaceae. It is native to rainforests of Malesia, Papuasia, Queensland and nearby islands.

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

Hakea fraseri, is a species of shrub or small tree commonly known as the corkwood oak, is a shrub in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to northern New South Wales. It has furrowed bark, pendulous foliage and creamy-white flowers in spring.

<i>Acacia latzii</i> Species of plant

Acacia latzii, also known as Latz's wattle and Tjilpi wattle, is a shrubby tree of the genus Acacia. It is native to the Finke bioregion.

<i>Pimelea axiflora</i> Species of shrub

Pimelea axiflora, commonly known as bootlace bush, is a small shrub in the family Thymelaeaceae and is endemic to Australia. It is a small shrub with whitish flowers on mostly smooth stems.

<i>Scaevola humifusa</i> Species of shrub

Scaevola humifusa is a prostrate shrub in the family Goodeniaceae, native to Western Australia. It grows to a height of 0.01 to 0.5 m, and its white-cream/white-blue flowers may be seen from August to November or January.

<i>Scaevola pilosa</i> Species of flowering plant

Scaevola pilosa, commonly known as the hairy fan-flower, is a perennial herb in the family Goodeniaceae. It is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia.

<i>Harpullia alata</i> Species of flowering plant

Harpullia alata, common name -winged tulip or wing-leaved tulip, is a tree in the family Sapindaceae, endemic to eastern Australia, and found from Brisbane, Queensland to Grafton, New South Wales.

<i>Harpullia cupanioides</i> Species of flowering plant

Harpullia cupanioides is a plant in the Sapindaceae family found in south east Asia: in the Andaman Islands, Assam, Bangladesh, Borneo, Cambodia, Yunnan, Hainan, Jawa, Laos, the Lesser Sunda Islands, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Guinea, Nicobar Islands, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam.

<i>Harpullia leichhardtii</i> Species of flowering plant

Harpullia leichhardtii is a tree in the family Sapindaceae, endemic to the Northern Territory.

<i>Leionema ralstonii</i> Species of shrub

Leionema ralstonii, is a small shrub with angular, smooth branchlets and pale green flowers in winter. It is restricted to the south coast of New South Wales.

<i>Myristica insipida</i> Species of plant in the family Myristicaceae

Myristica insipida, commonly known in Australia as Australian nutmeg, Queensland nutmeg or native nutmeg, is a small rainforest tree in the family Myristicaceae native to parts of Malesia, Papuasia and Australia. It is closely related to the commercially-important species of nutmeg, M. fragrans.

<i>Austrostipa mollis</i> Species of grass

Austrostipa mollis, also known as the soft speargrass or supple speargrass is a robust, erect tufted perennial speargrass in the Poaceae family. It is native to Australia, and found in Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, ACT and Tasmania.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Species Profile and Threats Database Achyranthes arborescens — Chaff Tree, Soft-wood". Canberra: Department of Agriculture, Water and Environment. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
  2. 1 2 "Achyranthes arborescens". Australian Plant Name Index, IBIS database. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government.
  3. 1 2 Brown, R. (1810). "Achyranthes". Prodromus florae Novae Hollandiae et insulae Van-Diemen, exhibens characteres plantarum quas annis 1802-1805. p. 417.
  4. ↑ "Achyranthes arborescens R.Br. | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Green, P.S. (2020). "Achyranthes arborescens". Flora of Australia. Canberra: Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
  6. ↑ "arborescens". www.plantillustrations.org. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.