Cenarrhenes

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Port Arthur plum
Cenarrhenes nitida fruit tim shea (SA).JPG
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Proteales
Family: Proteaceae
Subfamily: Proteoideae
Genus: Cenarrhenes
Labill.
Species:
C. nitida
Binomial name
Cenarrhenes nitida
Labill. [1]

Cenarrhenes is a monytypic genus in the family Proteaceae containing the single species Cenarrhenes nitida, known as the Port Arthur plum or native plum. Cenarrhenes nitida is an evergreen shrub to small tree endemic to the rainforests and scrublands of western Tasmania. It bears white flowers in late spring followed by the development of fleshy fruit.

Contents

Taxonomy and naming

The French naturalist and explorer Jacques Labillardière described Cenarrhenes nitida in 1805, from a location described as in capite Van Diemen (Tasmania). [2] It still bears its common name today. [1] The genus name is derived from the Ancient Greek words kenos "empty" and arrhen "male", referring to the four staminode-like hypogynous glands. [2] The genus only bears the one species, [2] its name the Latin adjective nitida "bright/shining", referring to its glossy leaves. [3]

Although it resembles the persoonias in appearance, it does not appear to be related to them. [3] Instead, it has been grouped with the Australian genera Agastachys , Symphionema and New Caledonian genera Beauprea and Beaupreopsis in the subtribe Cenarrheninae by Johnston and Briggs in 1975. It remained in its own subtribe in the publication of Flora of Australia in 1995, within the tribe Conospermeae and subfamily Proteoideae. [4] In 1998 Sara Hoot and Andrew Douglas analysed chloroplast sequences and found that Cenarrhenes was sister to a clade comprising the three genera Stirlingia, Conospermum and Synaphea. [5] Peter H. Weston and Nigel Barker reviewed the suprageneric relationships of the Proteaceae in 2006, using molecular and morphological data. In this scheme Cenarrhenes is located within the subfamily Proteoideae on account of it having cluster roots, a solitary ovule and indehiscent fruits. [6] In a phylogenetic study including all the Proteaceae genera, it was found that it was most closely related to the genera Beaupreopsis (New Caledonia) and Dilobeia (Madagascar). [7]

Port Arthur plum and native plum are common names given to the species. [1]

Description

The white flowers have pink tips in bud Cenarrhenes4.JPG
The white flowers have pink tips in bud

Cenarrhenes nitida forms an erect shrub to small tree ranging in height from 10 m (33 ft) in sheltered sites such as rainforests to 2 m (6.6 ft) in exposed sites. [8] Its leaves, which are roughly 8 to 12 cm long, are thick, dull and hairless with a cleanly serrated edge and rounded tip. These are attached to the stem via a short stalk. The leaves are spread along the branches and have a nauseating stale-cabbage smell when crushed which helps distinguish it from Anopterus glandulosus (Escalloniaceae) which looks similar but lacks the smell and the leaves are often longer and arranged in false whorls. [9] The leaves turn black when dried. [9] [10] [11]

Hence the common name, the fruit of Cenarrhenes nitida are a fleshy drupe which closely resemble commercial plums from the genus Prunus . The fruit are roughly 1.5 cm (0.59 in) in size, [8] but can get up to 3 cm (1.2 in). They have a smooth, deep purple skin, edible but chalky tasting pink-white flesh and a large stone at the center. Much like plums, the fruit have a groove running down one side of the fruit and a fine dusty layer on the skin giving it a bluish colour which is easily removed by rubbing. Fruit ripen in autumn from March to May. [11]

The flowers are produced in early summer from November to December and are small, symmetrical, and unscented. Each flower has four, pointed, fleshy petals which curl backward when open. Closed flowers have pink tips but turn all white when open. The flowers are stalkless and arranged on woody spikes which are shorter than the leaves. The flowers are insect pollinated and have four, thick, cream-yellow stamens. The pollination is spring-loaded and is triggered by a touch sensitive hair on one of the four anthers. Often, only 1 to 3 flowers per stalk will develop into mature fruit with the remainder forming stunted woody balls. [12]

Distribution and habitat

Cenarrhenes nitida is endemic to southern and western Tasmania and some of its islands, growing to an altitude of 800 m (2,600 ft), [8] the margins of the alpine zone. It occurs most often as an understory tree to small shrub in wet sclerophyll forests and rainforest with poor soils and occasionally in heath, button grass sedgeland and scrub. [11] Offshore populations occur inland on South Bruny Island and in forested areas of the De Witt Islands which closely resemble environments on mainland Tasmania.

Cultivation

Cenarrhenes nitida is a slow growing plant which requires a cool, moist, shady site with well composted soils and preferably good drainage. The seeds mature after the flesh has been removed and the stone allowed to dry. The seeds can be stored this way so long as they are kept in a well ventilated place. Germination is triggered by temperatures of roughly 20 °C after at least two months of cold stratification. Cenarrhenes nitida is often difficult to propagate and can be very slow growing if conditions are not right. They are best grown from seed as cuttings will remain green for considerable lengths of time without developing roots before turning brown. [11]

Related Research Articles

<i>Xylomelum</i> Genus of plants in the family Proteaceae native to Australia

Xylomelum is a genus of six species of flowering plants, often commonly known as woody pears, in the family Proteaceae and are endemic to Australia. Plants in this genus are tall shrubs or small trees with leaves arranged in opposite pairs, relatively small flowers arranged in spike-like groups, and the fruit a woody, more or less pear-shaped follicle.

<i>Adenanthos</i> Genus of Australian native shrubs in the flowering plant family Proteaceae

Adenanthos is a genus of Australian native shrubs in the flowering plant family Proteaceae. Variable in habit and leaf shape, it is the only genus in the family where solitary flowers are the norm. It was discovered in 1791, and formally published by Jacques Labillardière in 1805. The type species is Adenanthos cuneatus, and 33 species are recognised. The genus is placed in subfamily Proteoideae, and is held to be most closely related to several South African genera.

Taxonomy of <i>Banksia</i> Classification of the plant genus Banksia

As with other flowering plants, the taxonomy of Banksia has traditionally been based on anatomical and morphological properties of the Banksia flower, fruiting structure and seed, along with secondary characteristics such as leaf structure and growth habit. Increasingly, molecular evidence from DNA is providing important new insights into relationships within the genus and between this and other genera in the Proteaceae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Proteaceae</span> Family of flowering plants

The Proteaceae form a family of flowering plants predominantly distributed in the Southern Hemisphere. The family comprises 83 genera with about 1,660 known species. Australia and South Africa have the greatest concentrations of diversity. Together with the Platanaceae, Nelumbonaceae and in the recent APG IV system the Sabiaceae, they make up the order Proteales. Well-known 'Proteaceae genera include Protea, Banksia, Embothrium, Grevillea, Hakea and Macadamia. Species such as the New South Wales waratah, king protea, and various species of Banksia, Grevillea, and Leucadendron are popular cut flowers. The nuts of Macadamia integrifolia are widely grown commercially and consumed, as are those of Gevuina avellana on a smaller scale.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grevilleoideae</span> Subfamily of plants in the family Proteaceae, mainly from the Southern Hemisphere

The Grevilleoideae are a subfamily of the plant family Proteaceae. Mainly restricted to the Southern Hemisphere, it contains around 46 genera and about 950 species. Genera include Banksia, Grevillea, and Macadamia.

Triunia is a genus of medium to tall shrubs or small trees found as understorey plants in rainforests of eastern Australia. Members of the plant family Proteaceae, they are notable for their poisonous fleshy fruits or drupes. Only one species, T. youngiana, is commonly seen in cultivation.

<i>Buckinghamia</i> Genus of trees in the family Proteaceae endemic to north eastern Queensland, Australia

Buckinghamia is a genus of only two known species of trees, belonging to the plant family Proteaceae. They are endemic to the rainforests of the wet tropics region of north eastern Queensland, Australia. The ivory curl flower, B. celsissima, is the well known, popular and widely cultivated species in gardens and parks, in eastern and southern mainland Australia, and additionally as street trees north from about Brisbane. The second species, B. ferruginiflora, was only recently described in 1988.

<i>Roupala</i> Genus of plants in the family Proteaceae from Mexico to Argentina

Roupala is a Neotropical genus of woody shrubs and trees in the plant family Proteaceae. Its 34 species are generally found in forests from sea level to 4000 m altitude from Mexico to Argentina.

<i>Stirlingia</i> Genus of plants in the family Proteaceae

Stirlingia, commonly known as blueboy, is a genus of 7 species in the family Proteaceae, all of which are endemic to Western Australia.

<i>Bellendena</i> Genus of plants in the family Proteaceae

Bellendena montana, commonly known as mountain rocket, is a species of low-growing multi-stemmed shrub in the plant family Proteaceae. It is endemic to high-altitude subalpine and alpine regions in Tasmania, Australia. The prominent white flower spikes appear over summer, followed by small bright red or yellow fruit in late summer and autumn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Proteoideae</span> Subfamily of flowering plants

Proteoideae is one of the five subfamilies of the plant family Proteaceae. The greatest diversity is in Africa, but there are also many species in Australia; a few species occur in South America, New Caledonia, and elsewhere.

<i>Telopea truncata</i> Shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to Tasmania

Telopea truncata, commonly known as the Tasmanian waratah, is a plant in the family Proteaceae. It is endemic to Tasmania where it is found on moist acidic soils at altitudes of 600 to 1200 m (2000–4000 ft). Telopea truncata is a component of alpine eucalypt forest, rainforest and scrub communities. It grows as a multistemmed shrub to a height of 3 metres (10 ft), or occasionally as a small tree to 10 m (35 ft) high, with red flower heads, known as inflorescences, appearing over the Tasmanian summer and bearing 10 to 35 individual flowers. Yellow-flowered forms are occasionally seen, but do not form a population distinct from the rest of the species.

<i>Beaupreopsis</i> Monotypic genus of plants in the family Proteaceae

Beaupreopsis is a genus of plant in family Proteaceae, with just one species in the genus, Beaupreopsis paniculata. It is native to New Caledonia on the south of Grand Terre. Its habitat is from open maquis, to mountain area as low scrub, on a substrate of eroded ultramafic rocks.

<i>Agastachys</i> Monotypic genus of flowering shrub in the family Proteaceae

Agastachys odorata, commonly known as the white waratah or fragrant candlebush, is the sole member of the genus Agastachys in the protea family. It is an evergreen shrub to small tree and is endemic to the heaths and button grass sedgelands of western Tasmania.

<i>Darlingia ferruginea</i> Species of rainforest tree of the family Proteaceae from Northern Queensland

Darlingia ferruginea, commonly known as the brown silky oak, is a rainforest tree of the family Proteaceae from Northern Queensland.

Neorites is a monotypic genus of plants in the family Proteaceae. The sole species Neorites kevedianus, commonly called fishtail oak or fishtail silky oak, is a tall tree endemic to the wet tropics rainforests of north eastern Queensland, Australia.

Hollandaea is a small genus of plants in the family Proteaceae containing four species of Australian rainforest trees. All four species are endemic to restricted areas of the Wet Tropics of northeast Queensland.

<i>Opisthiolepis</i> Genus of plants

Opisthiolepis is a genus of a sole described species of large trees, constituting part of the plant family Proteaceae. The species Opisthiolepis heterophylla most commonly has the names of blush silky oak, pink silky oak, brown silky oak and drunk rabbit.

<i>Placospermum</i> Genus of trees

Placospermum is a genus of a single species of large trees, constituting part of the plant family Proteaceae. The species Placospermum coriaceum is endemic to the rainforests of the wet tropics region of northeastern Queensland, Australia. Common names include rose silky oak and plate-seeded oak.

<i>Dilobeia</i> Genus of trees in the family Proteaceae

Dilobeia is a genus of trees in the family Proteaceae. It is endemic to Madagascar and contains two recognised species. It is most closely related to the genera Cenarrhenes (Tasmania) and Beaupreopsis.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Cenarrhenes nitida Labill". Australian Plant Name Index (APNI), IBIS database. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government.
  2. 1 2 3 "Cenarrhenes Labill". Flora of Australia Online. Department of the Environment and Heritage, Australian Government.
  3. 1 2 Wrigley, John; Fagg, Murray (1991). Banksias, Waratahs and Grevilleas. Sydney: Angus & Robertson. pp. 130–31. ISBN   0-207-17277-3.
  4. ↑ "Cenarrheninae L.A.S.Johnson & B.G.Briggs". Flora of Australia Online. Department of the Environment and Heritage, Australian Government.
  5. ↑ Hoot, Sara B.; Douglas, Andrew W. (1998). "Phylogeny of the Proteaceae based on atpB and atpB-rbcL intergenic spacer region sequences". Australian Systematic Botany. 11 (4): 301–20. doi:10.1071/SB98027.
  6. ↑ Weston, Peter H.; Barker, Nigel P. (2006). "A new suprageneric classification of the Proteaceae, with an annotated checklist of genera". Telopea. 11 (3): 314–344. doi: 10.7751/telopea20065733 .
  7. ↑ Sauquet, H., P. H. Weston, C. J. Anderson, N. P. Barker, D. J. Cantrill, A. R. Mast, and Savolainen, V. (2009). Contrasted Patterns of Hyperdiversifaction in Mediterranean Hotspots. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 106 (1): 221–25.
  8. 1 2 3 "Cenarrhenes nitida Labill". Flora of Australia Online. Department of the Environment and Heritage, Australian Government.
  9. 1 2 University of Tasmania. "Cenarrhenes (Proteaceae) 3:601". Key to Tasmanian Dicots. Retrieved 22 September 2012.
  10. ↑ J.B. Kirkpatrick; Sue Backhouse (2007). Native Trees of Tasmania, Seventh Edition Completely Revised. Sandy Bay, Tasmania: Pandani Press. ISBN   978-0646-43088-1.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment. "Cenarrhenes nitida Notesheet" (PDF). Flora of Tasmania. Government of Tasmania. Retrieved 22 September 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  12. ↑ Australian Plants Society - Tasmanian Region. "A Glimpse of the Rainforest-part four". Archived from the original on 2012-10-05. Retrieved 22 September 2012.
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