Elaeocarpus | |
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Elaeocarpus hainanensis flowers | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Oxalidales |
Family: | Elaeocarpaceae |
Genus: | Elaeocarpus L. [1] |
Type species | |
Elaeocarpus serratus | |
Species | |
Synonyms | |
Elaeocarpus is a genus of nearly five hundred species of flowering plants in the family Elaeocarpaceae native to the Western Indian Ocean, Tropical and Subtropical Asia, and the Pacific. Plants in the genus Elaeocarpus are trees or shrubs with simple leaves, flowers with four or five petals usually, and usually blue fruit.
Plants in the genus Elaeocarpus are mostly evergreen trees or shrubs, a few are epiphytes or lianes, and some are briefly deciduous. The leaves are arranged alternately, simple (strictly compound with only one leaflet) with a swelling where the petiole meets the lamina, often have toothed edges, usually have prominent veins and often turn red before falling. The flowers are usually arranged in a raceme, usually bisexual, have four or five sepals and petals and many stamens. The petals usually have finely-divided, linear lobes. The fruit is an oval to spherical drupe that is usually blue, sometimes black, with a sculptured endocarp. [2] [3] [4]
The genus Elaeocarpus was first formally described in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus in Species Plantarum , [5] [6] although Johannes Burman published an illustration of "Elaecarpus serrata" in his book Thesaurus zeylanicus, but without a description of the genus. [7] The first species described by Linnaeus (the type species) was Elaeocarpus serratus. [5] The name Elaeocarpus is derived from Greek and means ‘olive-fruited’. [8]
See also List of Elaeocarpus species
There are about 488 species of Elaeocarpus, found on the islands of the western Indian Ocean, in tropical and subtropical Asia, Australia and on Pacific islands. [9]
Antidesma is a genus of tropical plant in the family Phyllanthaceae formally described by Linnaeus in 1753. It is native to tropical Africa, S + E + SE Asia, Australia, and various oceanic islands. The greatest diversity occurs in Southeast Asia.
Syzygium is a genus of flowering plants that belongs to the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. The genus comprises about 1200 species, and has a native range that extends from Africa and Madagascar through southern Asia east through the Pacific. Its highest levels of diversity occur from Malaysia to northeastern Australia, where many species are very poorly known and many more have not been described taxonomically. One indication of this diversity is in leaf size, ranging from as little as a half inch to as great as 4 ft 11 inches by sixteen inches in Syzygium acre of New Caledonia.
Chionanthus, common name: fringetrees, is a genus of about 140 species of flowering plants in the family Oleaceae.
Actinodaphne is an Asian genus of flowering plants in the laurel family (Lauraceae). It contains approximately 125 species of dioecious evergreen trees and shrubs.
Buchanania is a genus of plants in the mango and cashew family Anacardiaceae, native to areas from India to southern China, and southwards to northern Australia and the western Pacific.
Gomphandra is a genus of plant in family Stemonuraceae. They are dioecious trees or shrubs. The genus includes 44 accepted species, which range from India through Indochina to southern China and Taiwan, and through Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines to New Guinea, Queensland, and the Solomon Islands.
Lasianthus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. They are tropical subshrubs, shrubs, or rarely, small trees. They inhabit the understory of primary forests.
Memecylon is a plant group in Melastomataceae. It consists of 350-400 species of small to medium-sized trees and shrubs occurring in the Old World tropics. Memecylon is a monophyletic group basal to the Melastomataceae clade. Memecylon taxa have more than 600 published basionyms. Diversity of this group is concentrated in tropical Africa, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, India and Malaysia.
Elaeocarpus angustifolius is a species of flowering plant in the family Elaeocarpaceae and occurs from India to New Caledonia and northern Australia. Common synonyms are E. ganitrus and E. sphaericus. It is a large evergreen tree, often with buttress roots, and has leaves with wavy serrations, creamy white flowers and more or less spherical bright blue drupe fruit. In English, the tree is known as utrasum bean tree in India. In Sri Lanka recorded names are woodenbegar and Indian bead tree. It is simply known as elaeocarpus in the Northern Territory of Australia. Other names used for this tree in Australia are Indian oil fruit and genitri. In Hawaii it is known as a blue marble tree.
Elaeocarpus grandis, commonly known as the blue quandong, silver quandong or blue fig, is a species of flowering plant in the family Elaeocarpaceae which was first described in 1860. It is a large buttressed tree native to the coastal rainforests of northeastern Australia. The validity of this taxon is disputed, with some authorities accepting it and others presenting it as Elaeocarpus angustifolius.
Parsonsia is a genus of woody vines in the family Apocynaceae. Species occur throughout Indomalaya, Australasia and Melanesia.
Elaeocarpus sedentarius, commonly known as Minyon quandong, is a species of flowering plant in the family Elaeocarpaceae and is endemic to a restricted area of New South Wales. It is a medium-sized to large tree with elliptic to egg-shaped leaves, racemes of whitish flowers and more or less spherical blue fruit.
Peristylus, sometimes commonly known as ogre orchids or bog orchids is a genus of flowering plants from the orchid family, Orchidaceae. It consists of over 100 known species found across much of eastern and southern Asia as well as in Australia and on many islands of the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
Hedyotis (starviolet) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. Many species of this genus such as Hedyotis biflora, H. corymbosa and H. diffusa are well known medicinal plants. Hedyotis is native to tropical and subtropical Asia and to islands of the northwest Pacific. It comprises about 115 species. The type species for the genus is Hedyotis fruticosa.
Dendrophthoe is a genus of hemiparasitic shrubs found in Asia and Australia known as mistletoes. The genus was described by German naturalist Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius in 1830. Species in this genus have a variety of reported uses in the medical traditions of the region, most notably in Nepal.
Sonerila is a genus of plants in the family Melastomataceae. This genus is characterized the by presence of three petals as opposed to five in the other members of the family. Most members of the genus prefer growing in shady habitats. It is a large genus including about 175 species.
Elaeocarpus stipularis is a tree in the Elaeocarpaceae family. It is found from the Aru Islands, eastern Indonesia, to Philippines, and through Mainland Southeast Asia to Odisha, India. It has edible fruit, its wood is used and some medical uses are ascribed to it.
Elaeocarpus arnhemicus, commonly known as elaeocarpus, blue plum, bony quandony or Arnhem Land quandong, is species of flowering plant in the family Elaeocarpaceae and is native to northern Australia, New Guinea, Timor and certain other islands in the Indonesian Archipelago. It is a tree with narrow elliptic to lance-shaped or egg-shaped leaves with serrated edges, racemes of white or cream-coloured flowers and metallic blue fruit.
Elaeocarpus johnsonii, commonly known as Kuranda quandong or Johnson's quandong, is species of flowering plant in the family Elaeocarpaceae and is endemic to north-east Queensland. It is a small to medium-sized tree, often with several main stems, elliptic to egg-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base, racemes of up to seven flowers, the petals with fringed lobes, and dark blue fruit.