Adelia barbinervis

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Adelia barbinervis
Adelia barbinervis with fruit.jpg
Adelia barbinervis with fruit
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Malpighiales
Family: Euphorbiaceae
Genus: Adelia
Species:
A. barbinervis
Binomial name
Adelia barbinervis

Adelia barbinervis is a species of flowering plant in the family Euphorbiaceae that is native to southern Mexico and northern Central America. The Huastec Maya cultivated the plant as a famine food.

Contents

Description

Adelia barbinervis is a shrub, or as a tree [2] that grows to be 2-9 meters tall. [3] The bark is spinescent, thin, and gray to whitish. [3] [4]

The leaves grow with an alternate (spiral) pattern. [5] [6] The upper side is dark green and hairless while the underside is paler and pubescent (covered with short, soft hairs) along the veins. [3] Rarely, the underside of the leaf is tomentose, i.e. densely covered in short, matted hairs. [5] The leaves have 5-7 lateral veins. The axils of the veins have tufts of hair called domatia. [3] [5] The leaves are lanceolate (pointy at both ends) with a length of 4-9 cm and a width of 2-3.5 cm. The margins are entire. The leaves are connected to their twig by a 2-5 mm petiole, which is pubescent. The inconspicuous stipules at the base of the petiole are pubescent and, like the leaves, lanceolate. [5]

Plants flower from November to January. [3] The species is dioecious: male and female flowers are not found on the same plant. Flowers grow from the axils of the leaves. [5] The male flowers grow in cymose fascicles of 10-30 flowers. The male pedicels are pubescent and just 3.5-7 mm long. Male flowers have 3-5 greenish or whitish ovate sepals, which are about 2 mm long and pubescent on both sides. Male flowers have 8-12 whitish stamens, each with 2-mm filaments and globose anthers, that are joined at the base. The female flowers have longer pedicels, 15-30 mm long. Female flowers have 5-7 green, linear-lanceolate sepals 2-3 mm long, the upper surfaces of which are puberulent. The ovary is tomentose. [3] [5] The three [3] yellow or white [7] 1.5- to 2-mm styles are flat and widened, joined at the base, and have lacerate (jagged) edges at the apex. [3] [5]

The species produces fruit from January to April. [3] The fruit is a green, pubescent, three-lobed capsule 1.1 mm in diameter [3] that dehisces when dry. [8] The smooth, pale seeds inside are 3.5-4.5 mm long and subglobose. [5]

Taxonomy

Adelia barbinervis was first described by Cham. & Schltdl. and was published in Linnaea 6: 362 in 1831. [2] Ricinella barbinervis(Cham. & Schltdl.) Müll.Arg., published in Linnaea 34: 154 (1865), is a homotypic synonym of Adelia barbinervis. [2]

The specific epithet barbinervis means “bearded veins” [9] and refers to the leaves’ domatia. [3]

Adelia barbinervis is closely related to A. triloba . [5]

Distribution and habitat

Adelia barbinervis is native to seasonally dry climates from Mexico to Nicaragua, [2] where it is found in tropical rainforests, [5] tropical deciduous forests, and secondary forests [3] at elevations of 0-500m. It is common in milpa regrowth ecosystems. [1]

Uses

The Huastec Maya cultivated the plant as a famine food, cooking the shoots and tender leaves as greens. [1] The wood is used as firewood. [3]

Related Research Articles

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References

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  2. 1 2 3 4 "Adelia barbinervis". Plants of the World Online . Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 De-Nova, Jose Arturo; Victoria Sosa; Kenneth J. Wurdack (2006). "Phylogenetic Relationships and the Description of a New Species of Enriquebeltrania (Euphorbiaceae s.s.): An Enigmatic Genus Endemic to Mexico" (PDF). Systematic Botany. 31 (3): 533–546. doi:10.1600/036364406778388719. JSTOR   25064183. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-08-10.
  4. Brewer, Steven W. "Brewer - 4600 - Belize". Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
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  6. Brewer, Steven W. "Brewer - 4304 - Belize". Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
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  8. Amith, Jonathan D. "Comparative Nahuatl Ethnobiology". Global Biodiversity Information Facility. University of Michigan Herbarium. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
  9. "barba-jovis - beatus". Dictionary of Botanical Epithets. Retrieved 30 June 2024.