Eidothea

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Eidothea
Eidothea hardeniana Nightcap Oak leaves.jpg
Eidothea hardeniana
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Proteales
Family: Proteaceae
Subfamily: Proteoideae
Genus: Eidothea
A.W.Douglas & B.Hyland [1] [2] [3]
Type species
Eidothea zoexylocarya
A.W.Douglas & B.Hyland
Species

See text

Eidothea is a genus of two species of rainforest trees in New South Wales and Queensland, in eastern Australia, constituting part of the plant family Proteaceae. [1] [2] [4] The plant family Proteaceae was named after the shape-shifting god Proteus of Greek mythology. The genus name Eidothea refers to one of the three daughters of Proteus. [5]

Contents

In 1883 German-Australian botanist Ferdinand von Mueller named fossil seeds Xylocaryon lockii from Miocene age sediments excavated in old gold mining sites in Victoria; they match those of Eidothea and are thought to represent the modern plant. [6] [7]

Eidothea is known from geographic areas separated by more than 1,000 km (620 mi), the mountains of the Wet Tropics of north-eastern Queensland, the Nightcap Range area of north-eastern New South Wales and as the fossils from southern Victoria, much further to the south, [2] [8] underlining the fact that Australia's rainforests are tiny remnants of ancient rainforests that millions of years ago covered large parts of Australia. This makes them a particularly precious part of Australia's natural heritage.

Taxonomy

The family Proteaceae also includes more well known members such as the waratahs, grevilleas, banksias, macadamias and proteas. Proteaceae is a very old family of flowering plants which probably originated while the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana was still undivided. Gondwana consisted of what are now the continents of Australia, Africa, South America and Antarctica, as well as smaller bits and pieces such as New Zealand, New Caledonia and Madagascar. Gondwana began splitting up over 120 million years ago and the fragments carried a diverse array of plants and animals with them, including a variety of lineages of the Proteaceae. Eidothea is the only relic of one of those early lineages that has barely survived in the rainforests of eastern Australia. Other lineages went on to diversify spectacularly, resulting in hundreds of descendant species. [8] [9]

Eidothea lies within the subfamily Proteoideae , which contain such plants as Protea , Leucadendron , Leucospermum , and most other South African Proteaceae, Isopogon (Australian ‘drumsticks’), Adenanthos (Australian jugflowers), Petrophile (Australian ‘conesticks’), Conospermum (Australian smoke-bushes). [2] [8] [9]

Species

Two living species are known:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nightcap National Park</span> Protected area in New South Wales, Australia

The Nightcap National Park is a national park situated within the Nightcap Range in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia. The 8,080-hectare (20,000-acre) park was created in April 1983 and is situated 35 kilometres (22 mi) north of Lismore. The park was established following campaigns and blockades against logging at Terania Creek, Grier's Scrub and Mount Nardi between 1979 and 1982. Sections of the Whian Whian state forest were added to it following blockading and campaigning in 1998. The national park is classed by the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas as Category II and is part of the Shield Volcano Group of the World Heritage Site Gondwana Rainforests of Australia inscribed in 1986 and added to the Australian National Heritage List in 2007.

<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.

Helicia australasica, also named Austral oak or creek silky oak, is a species of rainforest trees from the flowering plant family Proteaceae.

<i>Eidothea hardeniana</i> Species of tree in the family Proteaceae

Eidothea hardeniana, commonly named nightcap oak, is a species of tree, up to 40 m (130 ft) tall, of the plant family Proteaceae, which botanist Robert Kooyman recognised as a new species only recently in 2002. It is found only in the Nightcap Range in northern New South Wales, Australia. The species has an official listing as critically endangered on the Australian Commonwealth EPBC Act and as Endangered on the NSW Threatened Species Act. The name hardeniana honours the botanist Gwen Harden. Phylogenetics studies now suggest it represents a basal branch of the Proteoid clade of the Proteaceae.

<i>Eidothea zoexylocarya</i> Species of tree in the family Proteaceae

Eidothea zoexylocarya is a species of tall rainforest trees endemic to north-eastern Queensland, Australia and constituting part of the plant family Proteaceae. In European–Australian science, these trees were only recognised in recent decades, first from the slopes of Mount Bartle Frere, the Queensland mountain which reaches the highest altitude. In 1995, scientific descriptions of the trees, as this genus and type species, were published for the first time by Andrew W. Douglas and Bernie Hyland. The species name refers to the almost identical fossil fruit Xylocaryon lockiiF.Muell., from Ballarat, southern Australia, still extant in this north-eastern Australian species.

<i>Alloxylon wickhamii</i> Species of tree in the family Proteaceae endemic to Queensland

Alloxylon wickhamii is a rainforest tree to 30 m (98 ft) tall in the family Proteaceae. It is endemic to the Wet Tropics of Queensland.

<i>Helicia glabriflora</i> Species of plant in the family Proteaceae from eastern Australia

Helicia glabriflora is a species of rainforest shrubs or small trees occurring in eastern Australia. Common names include smooth or pale helicia, pale, leather or brown oak. They grow naturally in a variety of different rainforest types from the Illawarra, New South Wales to the Townsville area, Queensland. Of all the global diversity of approximately one hundred Helicia species, this one species naturally grows the furthest south, in the Minnamurra Rainforest and the Robertson area, Illawarra, New South Wales, there observed more on the relatively fertile basalt and alluvial soils.

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.

Sphalmium is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the protea family. The only species, Sphalmium racemosum, is a large forest tree. Common names include satin silky oak, mystery oak, Mt Lewis oak, poorman's fishtail oak and buff silky oak.

Nothorites is a genus of a sole described species of trees, constituting part of the plant family Proteaceae. The species Nothorites megacarpus grows naturally only in restricted mountain regions (endemic) of the wet tropics rain forests of north-eastern Queensland, Australia.

<i>Lasjia</i> Genus of trees of the family Proteaceae

Lasjia is a genus of five species of trees of the family Proteaceae. Three species grow naturally in northeastern Queensland, Australia and two species in Sulawesi, Indonesia. Descriptively they are the tropical or northern macadamia trees group. Lasjia species characteristically branched compound inflorescences differentiate them from the Macadamia species, of Australia, which have characteristically unbranched compound inflorescences and only grow naturally about 1,000 km (620 mi) further to the south, in southern and central eastern Queensland and in northeastern New South Wales.

<i>Helicia ferruginea</i> Species of trees in the flowering plant family Proteaceae from eastern Australia

Helicia ferruginea, commonly named hairy honeysuckle or rusty oak, is a species of rainforest trees, of eastern Australia, from the flowering plant family Proteaceae.

Helicia lewisensis is a species of rainforest trees, of northeastern Queensland, Australia, from the flowering plant family Proteaceae. It is endemic to the northern upland rainforests of the Wet Tropics region, from about 900 to 1,330 m altitude.

Helicia lamingtoniana, also named Lamington's silky oak, is a species of rainforest trees, of northeastern Queensland, Australia, from the flowering plant family Proteaceae.

Helicia blakei, also named Blake's silky oak, is a species of rainforest tree, of northeastern Queensland, Australia, from the flowering plant family Proteaceae.

Hollandaea sayeriana, sometimes named Sayer's silky oak, is a small species of Australian rainforest trees in the plant family Proteaceae.

Hollandaea riparia, sometimes named roaring Meg hollandaea, is a species of Australian rainforest tree, in the plant family Proteaceae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nightcap Range</span>

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<i>Buckinghamia ferruginiflora</i> Species of plant in the Proteaceae family

Buckinghamia ferruginiflora, also known as Noah's oak or spotted oak, is a species of rainforest tree in the protea family, one of two in the genus that is endemic to the Wet Tropics of Queensland, north-eastern Australia. Although the tree's differences from its congener had been known since the 1970s, it was only formally described by Donald Foreman and Bernard Hyland in 1988 in the journal Muelleria.

References

  1. 1 2 Douglas, Andrew W.; Hyland, Bernie P. M. (1995). "Eidothea A.W.Douglas & B.Hyland". In McCarthy, P. M. (ed.). Flora of Australia: Volume 16: Eleagnaceae, Proteaceae 1 (online version). Flora of Australia series. CSIRO Publishing / Australian Biological Resources Study. pages 472, 127-128. ISBN   978-0-643-05692-3 . Retrieved 4 Nov 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Weston, Peter H.; Kooyman, R. M. (2002). "Systematics of Eidothea (Proteaceae), with the description of a new species, E. hardeniana, from the Nightcap Range, north-eastern New South Wales". Telopea. 9 (4): 821–832. doi: 10.7751/telopea20024022 .
  3. "Eidothea%". Australian Plant Name Index (APNI), Integrated Botanical Information System (IBIS) database (listing by % wildcard matching of all taxa relevant to Australia). Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government. Retrieved 4 Nov 2013.
  4. Douglas, Andrew W.; Hyland, Bernie P. M. (1995). "Proteaceae subfam. Eidotheoideae A.W.Douglas & B.Hyland". In McCarthy, P. M. (ed.). Flora of Australia: Volume 16: Eleagnaceae, Proteaceae 1 (online version). Flora of Australia series. CSIRO Publishing / Australian Biological Resources Study. pages 127–129. ISBN   978-0-643-05692-3 . Retrieved 4 Nov 2013.
  5. From the name of the Ancient Greek mythological figure Εἰδοθέᾱ, daughter of Proteus
  6. Mueller, F. von (1883). Observations on New Vegetable fossils of the Auriferous Drifts. Second Decade. Melbourne: Geological Survey of Victoria. pp.  3. Retrieved 10 Nov 2013.
  7. Greenwood, D. R.; Vadala, A. J.; Douglas, J. G. (2000). "Victorian Paleogene and Neogene macrofloras: a conspectus". Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria. 112 (1): 65–92. Retrieved 10 Nov 2013.
  8. 1 2 3 Weston, Peter H.; Kooyman, R. M. (2002). "Eidothea hardeniana- Botany and Ecology of the 'Nightcap Oak'". Australian Plants. Australian Plants Society. 21: 339–342. Archived from the original on 2013-11-10. Retrieved 6 Nov 2013.
  9. 1 2 Hoot, S. B.; Douglas, A. W. (1998). "Phylogeny of the Proteaceae based on atpB and atpB-rbcL intergenic spacer region sequences". Australian Systematic Botany. 11 (4): 301–320. doi:10.1071/SB98027.