Decaisnea | |
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Decaisnea fargesii | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Order: | Ranunculales |
Family: | Lardizabalaceae |
Genus: | Decaisnea Hook.f. & Thomson [1] [2] |
Species | |
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Occurrence data from GBIF |
Decaisnea Hook.f &Thomson, (猫儿屎属 māo er shǐ shǔ) [1] known commonly as dead man's fingers, blue bean plant, or blue sausage fruit, is a genus of flowering plants in the family Lardizabalaceae. It is native to eastern Asia, from China west to Nepal and south to Myanmar.
The genus consists of one or two species, depending on taxonomic opinion. Decaisnea insignis (Griffith) Hook.f. & Thomson was described from Nepal, and is sometimes restricted to the plants occurring in the Himalaya, with Chinese plants distinguished as Decaisnea fargesii Franchet. The only cited distinction between the plants from the two regions is the fruit colour, yellow-green in D. insignis and bluish in D. fargesii. [3] [4] This is of little significance and the two are now combined under the older name D. insignis by some authors. [5]
Decaisnea species are deciduous shrubs or small trees growing to 5 to 8 m tall with trunks up to 20 cm in diameter. The leaves are pinnate, 60 to 90 cm long, with up to 25 leaflets each up to 15 cm long and 10 cm broad. The flowers are produced in drooping panicles 25 to 50 cm long. Each flower is 3 to 6 cm wide with greenish-yellow sepals and no petals. The fruit is a soft greenish-yellow to blue-black pod-like follicle up to 10 cm long and 3 cm diameter. It contains a transparent, glutinous, jelly-like pulp containing numerous (around 40) flat black seeds about 1 cm wide. The pulp is edible, but the seeds are not. The flavor of D. fargesii fruit pulp has been described as sweet and similar to watermelon, and the texture described as "gelatinous". [6] D. insignis fruit has been described as "bland" and jelly-like. [7]
Decaisnea is grown as an ornamental plant for its foliage and decorative fruit, bright blue in many cultivated specimens. Most plants in cultivation derive from Chinese seeds and are commonly grown under the name D. fargesii. The plants are successfully grown in cooler temperate climates, and in fertile, well-drained soil. They are tolerant of temperatures as low as −15 °C (5 °F).
The fruit is valued for eating by the Lepcha people of Sikkim. [8]
Magnolia virginiana, most commonly known as sweetbay magnolia, or merely sweetbay, is a member of the magnolia family, Magnoliaceae. It was the first magnolia to be scientifically described under modern rules of botanical nomenclature, and is the type species of the genus Magnolia; as Magnolia is also the type genus of all flowering plants (magnoliophytes), this species in a sense typifies all flowering plants.
Platonia insignis, the sole species of the genus Platonia, is a tree of the family Clusiaceae native to South America in the humid forests of Brazil, Paraguay, parts of Colombia and northeast to Guyana; especially in Amazon Rainforest. Common names include bacuri, maniballi, naranjillo and bacurizeiro.
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Stewartia is a genus of 8-20 species of flowering plants in the family Theaceae, related to Camellia. Most of the species are native to eastern Asia in China, Japan, Korea, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam, with two in southeast North America, from Virginia and Kentucky south to Florida and Louisiana.
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Coriaria is the sole genus in the family Coriariaceae, which was described by Linnaeus in 1753. It includes 14 species of small trees, shrubs and subshrubs, with a widespread but disjunct distribution across warm temperate regions of the world, occurring as far apart as the Mediterranean region, southern and eastern Asia, New Zealand, the Pacific Ocean islands, and Central and South America.
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Skimmia is a genus of four species of evergreen dioecious shrubs and small trees in the rue family Rutaceae, all native to warm temperate regions of Asia. The leaves are clustered at the ends of the shoots, simple, lanceolate, 6–21 cm long and 2–5 cm broad, with a smooth margin. The flowers are in dense panicle clusters, each flower small, 6–15 mm diameter, with 4-7 petals. The fruit is red to black, 6–12 mm diameter, a fleshy drupe containing a single seed. All parts of the plant have a pungent aroma when crushed. The botanical name Skimmia is a Latinization of shikimi, which is the Japanese name for Illicium religiosum as well as an element in miyama shikimi, the Japanese name for Skimmia japonica.
Staphylea, called bladdernuts, is a small genus of 10 or 11 species of flowering plants in the family Staphyleaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The highest species diversity is in China, where four species occur.
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Viscum is a genus of about 70–100 species of mistletoes, native to temperate and tropical regions of Europe, Africa, Asia and Australasia. Traditionally, the genus has been placed in its own family Viscaceae, but recent genetic research by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group shows this family to be correctly placed within a larger circumscription of the sandalwood family, Santalaceae. Its name is the origin of the English word viscous, after the Latin viscum, a sticky bird lime made from the plants' berries.
Ligustrum vulgare is a species of Ligustrum native to central and southern Europe, north Africa and southwestern Asia, from Ireland and southwestern Sweden south to Morocco, and east to Poland and northwestern Iran.
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Celtis africana, the white stinkwood, is a deciduous tree in the family Cannabaceae. Its habit ranges from a tall tree in forest to a medium-sized tree in bushveld and open country, and a shrub on rocky soil. It occurs in Yemen and Somaliland and over large parts of Africa south of the Sahara. It is a common tree in the south and east of southern Africa, where the odour given off by freshly-cut green timber is similar to that of Ocotea bullata or black stinkwood.
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Decaisnea fargesii, the blue sausage fruit, blue bean shrub, or dead men's fingers, is a member of the family Lardizabalaceae, and is native to Nepal, Tibet and China. It is a deciduous shrub that grows to 4 m tall and broad, but may achieve 8 m (26 ft) eventually.
Catalpa fargesii, the Chinese bean tree, is a species of tree in the family Bignoniaceae, native to China. Growing to about 25 m tall, it is a deciduous tree which produces abundant pink blossom in spring, followed by narrow brown beans-like fruit in the autumn. Some sources place the species as a synonym of Catalpa bungei.