Elaeocarpus joga | |
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Mature tree in Dededo, Guam | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Oxalidales |
Family: | Elaeocarpaceae |
Genus: | Elaeocarpus |
Species: | E. joga |
Binomial name | |
Elaeocarpus joga | |
Synonyms [2] | |
Elaeocarpus joga is a species of tree in the family Elaeocarpaceae. It is native to the Mariana Islands and Palau. It is a moderately-sized tree with blue-coloured, round, 1.5cm diameter fruit and leaves which turn bright red before they senescence.
In the Chamorro language it is called yoga. [3]
Merrill (see taxonomy) considered it to be a distinct species by virtue of its relatively small leaves with numerous domatia upon them, and its relatively large flowers. [3]
Elaeocarpus joga was first formally described by Elmer Drew Merrill in 1914, [1] [3] but earlier described in the 1905 The Useful Plants of Guam by W. E. Safford. The holotype was collected by R. C. McGregor in Guam in 1911. [3]
In the 1971 article The Flora of Guam, B. C. Stone recorded it as E. sphaericus (sensu Schum. , now E. angustifolius), but in a 1979 article in the same journal updating the flora of the region, A geographical checklist of the Micronesian Dicotyledonae, Fosberg et al. did not accept this and continued to recognise E. joga. [2]
Coode wrote in 2010 that E. joga, and its partial synonym E. carolinensis, need to be re-examined (it falls outside the region studied in his paper) to see if it truly is an independent species and not a synonym, and to which section of the genus Elaeocarpus it belongs. If it belongs to section Ganitrus like E. angustifolius, this is a biogeographic oddity, because all other species appear to have evolved in the Malay Archipelago. [4] Merrill places it in the section Dicera. [3] Confusingly, Fosberg et al. also state that E. grandis, which may in turn be a synonym of E. angustifolius, has been introduced to Palau. [2]
A 2013 thesis using molecular phylogenetics to study the Elaeocarpus in Australasia tested an old sample of E. carolinensis from the Caroline Islands and found it generally nested within E. angustifolius in most sequences studied, but somewhat divergent in trnL-F. It clearly belongs to section Ganitrus, which was found nicely genetically monophyletic, despite the section's circumscription being based on Cooke's morphological studies alone. [5]
According to Fosberg et al. the species is native to the Marianas Islands (Guam, Rota, Saipan, Pagan, Alamagan) and the nation of Palau (Babeldaob). [2] [6]
In the late 19th century some logging of this species took place on Guam. It yielded logs of up to 14m, although Safford was unaware of trees that size in 1905. [3]
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.
The Micronesian myzomela is a species of bird in the honeyeater family Meliphagidae. The species forms a superspecies with a number of related and similar looking island and mainland myzomelas across the Pacific and Australasia. It in turn is composed of seven insular subspecies.
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.
Elaeocarpus williamsianus, commonly known as hairy quandong, is a species of flowering plant in the family Elaeocarpaceae and is endemic to a restricted area of north-eastern New South Wales. It is a small tree with lance-shaped leaves, racemes of greenish-white flowers and spherical blue fruit.
Scaevola taccada, also known as beach cabbage, sea lettuce, or beach naupaka, is a flowering plant in the family Goodeniaceae found in mangrove swamps and rocky or sandy coastal locations in the tropical areas of the Indo-Pacific. It is a common beach shrub throughout the Arabian Sea, the tropical Indian Ocean and the tropical islands of the Pacific Ocean.
Elaeocarpus hedyosmus is a species of flowering plant in the Elaeocarpaceae family used as a medicinal plant. It is one of three recently described species that is endemic to Sri Lanka.
Artocarpus mariannensis, also known as the Marianas breadfruit or the seeded breadfruit, is a species of plant in the mulberry / fig family, Moraceae. It is endemic to the Mariana Islands and Guam. It has been utilized extensively by the Micronesian people, being one of the staple food crops that was introduced to other islands in Micronesia.
Bikkia tetrandra is an herbaceous member of the family Rubiaceae, distinguished by its white square-shaped flowers. It is native to Papuasia and islands of the western Pacific, including the Caroline Islands, Fiji, Mariana Islands, New Caledonia, New Guinea, Niue, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu, and Wallis-Futuna Islands. The stems ignite easily and can be used to make torches or candles.
Eugenia palumbis is a shrub with edible fruits in the family Myrtaceae. It is endemic to the Mariana Islands, including Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
The Marianas tropical dry forests is a tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests ecoregion on the Marianas Islands in the western Pacific Ocean.
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.
Syzygium thompsonii is an endemic tree of the Mariana Islands of Guam, Rota, and Saipan with a striking appearance due to its abundance of white flowers and edible fruit that grow directly from the trunk. It is related to the Malay apple but bears smaller tart fruit.
Melochia villosissima, is a tree endemic to northwest Pacific Ocean islands, including South Iwo Jima and western Micronesian Islands. It is a small pioneer tree often found along roadsides and has a striking appearance due to its clusters of pink flowers.
Callicarpa lamii is a plant in the mint family that is endemic to the Mariana Islands. It is one of two Callicarpa plants endemic to the Mariana Islands, the other being Callicarpa candicans var. paucinervia.
Psychotria hombroniana is shrub or tree in the family Rubiaceae that is endemic to the Caroline and Mariana Islands in the northwest Pacific Ocean.
Aidia racemosa is a tree in the Rubiaceae family, native from Thailand east to the Pacific islands and south to Australia.
Hedyotis scabridifolia is an herb or small shrub that is endemic to the volcanic soils of the Mariana Islands of Guam, Rota and Saipan.
Glochidion marianum is a species of plant in the family Phyllanthaceae that is endemic to the islands of Guam and the Caroline Islands.