Brachylaena

Last updated

Brachylaena
Brachylaena discolor tree - South Africa.jpg
Branches of Brachylaena discolor
Brachylaena huillensis 1DS-II 8894.jpg
Inflorescences of female Brachylaena huillensis plant
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Tribe: Tarchonantheae
Genus: Brachylaena
R.Br.
Species

See text

Synonyms [1] [2]
  • OligocarphaCass.
  • SynchodendronBojer ex DC.

Brachylaena is a genus of flowering plants in the aster, or composite, family, Asteraceae or Compositae. Several are endemic to Madagascar, and the others are distributed in mainland Africa, especially the southern regions. [3]

These are trees and shrubs with alternately arranged leaves. One of these, Brachylaena merana, is the tallest of all composites ('daisy trees") at up to 132 feet (forty meters). [4] and Brachylaena huillensis of East Africa is of similar height. They are dioecious, with male and female flowers occurring on separate individuals. The flower heads are somewhat disc-shaped. Heads with female flowers are larger and produce larger pappi. [5]

B. huillensis is the only widespread species, [3] growing as a dominant tree in Brachylaena woodlands and a common species in some eastern African forests. It provides critical habitat for many animal species. It is also sought after for its wood and has been overexploited. [6]

Species [2]

Some species are subject of dispute:

Related Research Articles

<i>Arctotis</i> Genus of plants

Arctotis is a genus of annual and perennial plants in the family Asteraceae.

<i>Crinum</i> Genus of flowering plants in the family Amaryllidaceae

Crinum is a genus of about 180 species of perennial plants that have large showy flowers on leafless stems, and develop from bulbs. They are found in seasonally moist areas, including marshes, swamps, depressions and along the sides of streams and lakes in tropical and subtropical areas worldwide.

<i>Gerbera</i> Genus of plants

Gerbera L. is a genus of plants in the Asteraceae (Compositae) family. The first scientific description of a Gerbera was made by J. D. Hooker in Curtis's Botanical Magazine in 1889 when he described Gerbera jamesonii, a South African species also known as Transvaal daisy or Barberton daisy. Gerbera is also commonly known as the African daisy.

<i>Inula</i> Genus of flowering plants in the daisy family Asteraceae

Inula is a genus of about 80 species of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, native to Europe, Asia and Africa.

<i>Emilia</i> (plant) Genus of flowering plants

Emilia is a genus of herbaceous plants in the family sunflower family, known as tasselflower or pualele.

<i>Banksia sessilis</i> Species of plant of Western Australia

Banksia sessilis, commonly known as parrot bush, is a species of shrub or tree in the plant genus Banksia of the family Proteaceae. It had been known as Dryandra sessilis until 2007, when the genus Dryandra was sunk into Banksia. The Noongar peoples know the plant as budjan or butyak. Widespread throughout southwest Western Australia, it is found on sandy soils over laterite or limestone, often as an understorey plant in open forest, woodland or shrubland. Encountered as a shrub or small tree up to 6 m (20 ft) in height, it has prickly dark green leaves and dome-shaped cream-yellow flowerheads. Flowering from winter through to late spring, it provides a key source of food—both the nectar and the insects it attracts—for honeyeaters in the cooler months, and species diversity is reduced in areas where there is little or no parrot bush occurring. Several species of honeyeater, some species of native bee, and the European honey bee seek out and consume the nectar, while the long-billed black cockatoo and Australian ringneck eat the seed. The life cycle of Banksia sessilis is adapted to regular bushfires. Killed by fire and regenerating by seed afterwards, each shrub generally produces many flowerheads and a massive amount of seed. It can recolonise disturbed areas, and may grow in thickets.

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

Lopholaena is a genus of perennial shrubs and herbaceous plants in the family Asteraceae. About 20 species occur from tropical to southern Africa.

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

Anisopappus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae.

<i>Brachylaena huillensis</i> Species of flowering plant

Brachylaena huillensis, the muhuhu, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is found in the montane forests of Angola, Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. With a height of up to 131 feet it is, with Vernonia arborea, a candidate for the tallest of all composites, and at up to 60 centimeters also the most massive.

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

Distephanus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. It is described by American botanist Harold E. Robinson as having over 40 species and by David Mabberley as having only 34 species. These sources differ sharply in their description of the range of the genus. Robinson has it ranging throughout Africa and occurring also in India and China. Mabberley has it restricted to southeast Africa, Madagascar, and Mauritius.

<i>Brachylaena discolor</i> Species of flowering plant

Brachylaena discolor is a species of flowering plant in the aster family, Asteraceae. It is native to Africa, where it occurs in Mozambique, South Africa, and Eswatini. Its common names include coast silver oak and coastal silver oak.

<i>Brachylaena rotundata</i> Species of flowering plant

Brachylaena rotundata is an occasionally deciduous Southern African shrub or small tree growing to some 8m in height and of the family Asteraceae. It occurs in eastern Botswana, Transvaal, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe, growing in open woodland, on rocky koppies and slopes, and on stream banks. Kew accepts Brachylaena rotundata S. Moore as a species while 'Flora of Mozambique' treats it as a variety of Brachylaena discolor DC. It bears attractive foliage, green on the upper surface and silver-grey on the lower, leaves turning slightly reddish in autumn.

Leaves with petioles from 2 mm to 7 mm. long, lamina 4–15 x 2.5–6 cm., larger on coppice shoots, broadly oblanceolate or elliptic, obtuse to rounded at the apex, cuneate or rounded base, entire, occasionally coarsely dentate near the apex; upper surface araneous when young, or glabrescent; lower surface greyish tomentellous with prominent veins. Capitula sometimes preceding the leaves, young synflorescences with buds in axillary and terminal spikes, mature synflorescences with numerous capitula in dense terminal panicles 4–40 cm. long, or in short raceme-like panicles in axils of old leaves. Involucres cyathiform to obconic. Phyllaries minutely glandular outside, subobtuse, margins ciliolate, the outer phyllaries from c. 1 mm. long and ovate, the inner to c. 5 mm. long becoming lorate-lanceolate, narrowly obtuse or blunt at the apex; the outermost 5–8 series decreasing in size and extending down to the base of the capitulum stalk. Male flowers: corollas dull-yellow, 3–5 mm. long, lobes c. 1.5 mm. long and ± recurved; pappus uniseriate, setae 3–4 mm. long, subplumose, the seta barbs exceeding the seta axis in width. Female flowers: corollas dull-yellow, 3–5 mm. long, filiform, lobes erect up to c. 0.5 mm. long; achenes c. 4 mm. long, subcylindric-fusiform, narrowly c. 8-ribbed, pubescent; pappus 2-several-seriate, setae 4–5 mm. long, ± terete or flattened, seta barbs ± equalling the seta axis in width.""

Melhania rotundata is a plant in the family Malvaceae, native to East Africa.

<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.

References

  1. Flann, C (ed) 2009+ Global Compositae Checklist
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Brachylaena R.Br". Plants of the World Online . Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved 15 August 2022.
  3. 1 2 Beentje, H. J. (2000). The genus Brachylaena (Compositae: Mutisieae). Kew Bulletin 55(1), 1-41.
  4. Carlquist, Dr. Sherwin. Island Biology. New York & London: Univ. of Columbia Press. p. 419.
  5. Hyde, M. A., et al. (2013). Brachylaena. Flora of Zimbabwe.
  6. Cordeiro, N. J. and M. Githiru. (2000). Conservation evaluation for birds of Brachylaena woodland and mixed dry forest in north-east Tanzania. Bird Conservation International 10(1), 47-65.