Ixerba | |
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Tawari, Bay of Plenty | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Crossosomatales |
Family: | Strasburgeriaceae |
Genus: | Ixerba A.Cunn. |
Species: | I. brexioides |
Binomial name | |
Ixerba brexioides A.Cunn. | |
Ixerba brexioides, the sole species in the genus Ixerba, is a bushy tree with thick, narrow, serrated, dark green leaves and panicles of white flowers with a green heart. The fruit is a green capsule that splits open to reveal the black seeds partly covered with a fleshy scarlet aril against the white inside of the fruit. Ixerba is an endemic of the northern half of the North Island of New Zealand. Common names used in New Zealand are tawari (or tāwari) for the tree and whakou when in flower. [1] It is assigned to the family Strasburgeriaceae. [2]
Tawari is a small tree of up to 10 m high with a spreading crown. The trunk is usually between 2–4 dm in diameter, and covered by a thick grayish brown bark that acts as a buffer. Young branches have few flat-lying pale unicellular T-hairs, while the peduncles, pedicels, sepals and petals are thickly covered in such hairs, giving them a felty look. The leaves are alternately positioned along the stem and often almost create a whorl at the end of a growth period, with the bud at the end covered in stout triangular scales. These scales have entire margins fringed with simple single celled hairs. The first leaves to appear when growth recommences are an intermediate series between schales and full leaves. Stipules at the base of the leaf stem are absent. The leaf stalk is stout, fleshy and about 2 cm long. The somewhat fleshy and distinctly leathery simple leaf blades are yellowish to dark green on top and pale green beneath and measure 6-16 × 1–4 cm, are lanceolate to elliptic in shape, while the widest point may be at or beyond midlength, with a pointy tip, and the edges are coarsely serrated. A small gland is present at the tip of each tooth. Young leaves are often reddish and have rolled-in margins. Leaves on young shoots may be relatively narrower. Old leaves discolor to orange or red.
Flower buds are formed in March and April and these open from October to the end of December varying according to location and altitude. The inflorescence sits at the end of the branches in an umbel-like panicle that consists of five to fifteen flowers. Each flower is hermaphrodite, starsymmetric, 21⁄2—31⁄2 cm in diameter and produces copious amounts of nectar, but apparently does not emit a scent. The five sepals are broadly oval, covered in downy hairs and 5–6 mm long. The five petals are overlapping in the bud, white, felty, spoon-shaped with a narrow base (or claw). The claw is 11⁄2-2 cm long and is inserted on a 5-lobed disc. The five stamens extend well beyond the corolla and alternate with the five lobes of the disc at the centre of the flower. The filaments are very long and white. The anthers are connected to the filaments midlength and open in lengthwise slits towards the middle of the flower. Pollen grains have five slits. The nectar is produced by the ledges of the disc, just above the petal implant. The five styles that rise from the disc are sometimes free from each other at their based and are twisting and fused higher up.
The fruit is a leathery capsule, broadly oval in shape. These contain five spaces that split open outwards from the base of the style when the fruit is ripe by April. Each space contains two shiny black seeds that are shaped like a slightly curved tear drop of 6×3 mm, and are partly covered by a conspicuous scarlet aril that acts as a visual and tactile cue for birds to locate the seeds. Both of the seeds and the aril starkly contrast with the white inside of the fruit (or mericarp). Aborted seeds are greyish. The embryo is green. Ixerba has fifty chromosomes (2n = 50). [2] [3] [4] [5]
Ixerba has been assigned to different families over time. Traditionally it was regarded related to Roussea and Brexia and has been combined with them in the Brexiaceae. These three have been placed in different other famililies, such as the Escalloniaceae, but doubt remained about their proper placement. After genetic analysis showed that Ixerba was not very much related to either Roussea or Brexia, it was placed in the monogeneric family Ixerbaceae. However, further testing revealed that Ixerba was closely related to the New Caledonian genus Strasburgeria and it was assigned to the Strasburgeriaceae by the APG III in 2009. [2]
Fossil remains of Ixerba have been found from the Middle Miocene. [5]
Recent phylogenetic analysis resulted in the following tree. [6]
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The genus name Ixerba is an anagram of Brexia, a treelet from Madagascar and the coast of East Africa, to which it bears a superficial likeness. The species epithet brexioides means "like Brexia". [2]
Tawari is a species endemic to the North Island of New Zealand, roughly north of a line crossing Taupo. It is said to be widespread from about Kaitaia south to Waitomo, and Te Urewera, including the Tutamoe Ranges, the Waitākere Ranges, Waipoua Forest, Te Moehau on the Coromandel Peninsula, higher elevations on the Barrier Islands and elsewhere around the Bay of Plenty. [2] [4] Tawari can tolerate altitudes ranging from 500–1200 m but is mostly found in submontane and montane forest.
Tawari can often be found together with the New Zealand kauri Agathis australis in the understory of the lowland rain forest. It is common in cloud forest up to 700 m too. The species has a preference for shaded or sheltered locations, often in permanently damp soil and near streams. It is locally abundant but mostly individuals are far between. It is common in regenerating forests along with tawheowheo Quintinia serrata.
Tawari has a mass flowering strategy, attracting a range of visitors with the abundant nectar it produces. Each flower produces on average 18 μl of nectar with an average concentration of 20% brix. Pollination is mainly by birds, however in modified forest where birds a few in number, flower visitation is most frequently by large flies and moths, followed by honey bees, bumblebees, native bees, wasps and beetles. [1] Floral morphology, such as its wide spreading anthers, suggest adaptation to pollination by birds. [2] [4] [7] Seeds capsules develop between January and April each year, and dehisce to reveal up to ten glossy, purple-black seeds that are partly covered by an orange fleshy aril. Seeds are primarily dispersed by birds, with reports including kererū, pōpokotea, hihi, and kākā. [1]
Tawari is a rich source of nectar, which is often so abundant that bees produce monofloral honey, that is the honey is chiefly made of nectar from tawari flowers. Tawari honey is regularly for sale from food shops in New Zealand. The nectar contains a lot of fructose and much water. The honey may be thin as a consequence, but nonetheless crystallizes quickly. The honey has a light colour and tastes a bit like butterscotch. It contains relatively few pollen, and if at least 20% of the pollen is tawari, it can be marketed as tawari honey. [2] [7] [8] Bark can produce a black dye that is known to be used on flax. [9] Māori people traditionally used the flowers to make necklaces and other adornments to be worn at festivities. [7]
Tawari is known to be very difficult to grow in gardens. It needs a sheltered location, humus-rich soil and good drainage, but the soil should never dry out. The species probably depends on a mycorrhiza, and if planted next to Kapuka Griselinia littoralis , tawari does much better. [2] [10]
Rambutan is a medium-sized tropical tree in the family Sapindaceae. The name also refers to the edible fruit produced by this tree. The rambutan is native to Southeast Asia. It is closely related to several other edible tropical fruits, including the lychee, longan, pulasan, and quenepa.
A pollinator is an animal that moves pollen from the male anther of a flower to the female stigma of a flower. This helps to bring about fertilization of the ovules in the flower by the male gametes from the pollen grains.
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Passiflora tarminiana is a species of passionfruit. The yellow fruits are edible and their resemblance to small, straight bananas has given it the name banana passionfruit in some countries. It is native to the uplands of tropical South America and is now cultivated in many countries. In Hawaii and New Zealand it is now considered an invasive species. It was given the name banana passionfruit in New Zealand, where passionfruit are also prevalent. In Hawaii, it is called banana poka. In its Latin American homeland, it is known as curuba, curuba de Castilla, or curuba sabanera blanca (Colombia); taxo, tacso, tagso, tauso (Ecuador); parcha, taxo (Venezuela), tumbo or curuba (Bolivia); tacso, tumbo, tumbo del norte, trompos, tintin, porocsho or purpur (Peru).
Paeonia brownii is a low to medium height, herbaceous perennial flowering plant in the family Paeoniaceae. It has compound, steely-gray, somewhat fleshy leaves and small drooping maroon flowers. Its vernacular name is Brown's peony, native peony or western peony. It is native to the western United States and usually grows at altitude, often as undergrowth in part-shade. The fleshy roots store food to carry the plant through the dry summers and produce new leaves and flowers the following spring.
A flower, also known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants. Flowers consist of a combination of vegetative organs – sepals that enclose and protect the developing flower. These petals attract pollinators, and reproductive organs that produce gametophytes, which in flowering plants produce gametes. The male gametophytes, which produce sperm, are enclosed within pollen grains produced in the anthers. The female gametophytes are contained within the ovules produced in the ovary.
This page provides a glossary of plant morphology. Botanists and other biologists who study plant morphology use a number of different terms to classify and identify plant organs and parts that can be observed using no more than a handheld magnifying lens. This page provides help in understanding the numerous other pages describing plants by their various taxa. The accompanying page—Plant morphology—provides an overview of the science of the external form of plants. There is also an alphabetical list: Glossary of botanical terms. In contrast, this page deals with botanical terms in a systematic manner, with some illustrations, and organized by plant anatomy and function in plant physiology.
Rhodoleia championii, the Hong Kong rose, is a species of plant in the family Hamamelidaceae. It is a small evergreen tree with dangling scarlet flowers that are pollinated primarily by birds, and is found in China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Vietnam.
Chamaecrista fasciculata, the partridge pea, is a species of legume native to most of the eastern United States. It is an annual which grows to approximately 0.5 meters tall. It has bright yellow flowers from early summer until first frost, with flowers through the entire flowering season if rainfall is sufficient.
Cuttsia viburnea is a shrub or bushy tree which has toothed leaves and panicles of white flowers, and that is endemic to eastern Australia. It is sometimes called silver-leaved cuttsia, and confusingly also native elderberry, honey bush or native hydrangea. C. viburnea is the only species assigned to the genus Cuttsia.
Rubus schmidelioides, commonly called bush lawyer or white leaved lawyer, is a climbing plant species found commonly in New Zealand. It is given the Māori name tātarāmoa which refers to the feet of the rooster. Its hooked branches allow it to climb across the ground and into shrubs and trees. R.schmidelioides fruit are yellow to orange.
Carpodetus serratus is an evergreen tree with small ovate or round, mottled leaves with a toothy margin, and young twigs grow zig-zag, and fragrant white flowers in 5 cm panicles and later black chewy berries. It is an endemic of New Zealand. Its most common name is putaputāwētā which means many wētā emerge - referring to the nocturnal Orthoptera that live in holes in the trunk of this tree made by Pūriri moth caterpillars. Regional variations on the name also refer to this insect that lives and feeds on it such as kaiwētā, and punawētā. The tree is also sometimes called marbleleaf. It is found in broadleaf forest in both North, South and Stewart Islands. It flowers between November and March, and fruits are ripe from January to February.
Strasburgeriaceae is a small family of flowering plants in the order Crossosomatales, only found in New Zealand and New Caledonia. It contains two genera, Strasburgeria and Ixerba. Both genera have simple, evergreen, alternated leaves, often in worl-like clusters, with gland-tipped serrations, hermaphroditic, pentamerous flowers with persistent sepals, clawed petals, flat and long filaments that extend beyond the petals and a persistent style with a punctiform stigma.
Roussea simplex is a woody climber of 4–6 m high, that is endemic to the mountain forest of Mauritius. It is the only species of the genus Roussea, which is assigned to the family Rousseaceae. It has opposing, entire, obovate, green leaves, with modest teeth towards the tip and mostly pentamerous, drooping flowers with yellowish recurved tepals, and a purse-shaped orange corolla with strongly recurved narrowly triangular lobes.
Brexia is a plant genus assigned to the Celastraceae. It is a dense evergreen shrub or small tree of usually around 5 m high, with alternately set, simple, leathery leaves with a short leaf stem and lanceolate to inverted egg-shaped leaf blades. The pentamerous flowers occur in cymes. The petals are greenish white, the stamens are alternating with wide, incised staminodes. The superior ovary develops in a long-ribbed fruit. Brexia naturally grows on the coast of East Africa, on Madagascar, the Comoros and Seychelles. Opinions differ about the number of species in Brexia. Sometimes the genus is regarded monotypic, B. madagascariensis being a species with a large variability, but other authors distinguish as many as twelve species. Common names for B. madagascariensis include jobiapototra, tsimiranjana, tsivavena, vahilava, voalava, voankatanana, voantalanina, voatalanina and votalanina, and mfukufuku (Swahili), mfurugudu and bwa kato (Seychelles).
Strasburgeria robusta is an evergreen tree with large toothed leaves and large but rather inconspicuous, single, pendulant flowers in a gloomy colorscheme of yellowish with brown markings, with about ten sepals, five petals, ten stamens, a very distinct circular nectar gland with radiating spikes and rather large globular fruits with a long persistent style, with a scent reminiscent of apples, which is endemic to New Caledonia. It is the only recognized species of the genus Strasburgeria.
Serruria fasciflora or common pin spiderhead is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae. It is a sprawling to upright shrublet of 40 cm to 1 m high and about 1⁄2 m wide. It has finely divided, upward curving leaves with thread-thin segments and clusters of sweetly scented heads, each consisting of five to seven silvery pink flowers, that may be found year-round, but mostly from May to December. It is a rather widespread and common species, that is restricted to the south of the Western Cape province of South Africa.
Leucospermum formosum is a large upright shrub of up to 3 m (9.8 ft) high, from the family Proteaceae. It grows from a single trunk and its branches are greyish felty. The softly felty leaves are lance-shaped to elliptic, 6+1⁄2–10 cm (2.6–3.9 in) long and 14–20 mm (0.55–0.79 in) wide. The flower heads are flattened and about 15 cm (5.9 in) across, and consist of bright yellow flowers from which long, styles emerge which are strongly clockwise bent just below the white, later pink thickened tip. From above, the heads look like turning wheels. It is called silver-leaf wheel-pincushion in English. It flowers during September and October. It is an endemic species of the Western Cape province of South Africa.
Mimetes capitulatus is an evergreen, upright, rounded shrub of about 2 m (7 ft) high, from the family Proteaceae. It has greyish green, lance- to egg-shaped leaves ending in a thickened tip. The flower heads and subtending leaves form a cylindric inflorescence, topped by ordinary, more or less upright leaves. Each primarily orange flowerhead contains 10–13 flowers with conspicuously scarlet styles, yellow under the narrow hourglass-like pollen presenter at its tip. Flowers can usually be found from mid-June till December, peaking in August. It is called conical pagoda in English and skraalstompie in Afrikaans.
Chlorocyathus lobulata is a species of plant in the Apocynaceae family. It is native to the Cape Provinces of South Africa. Hendrik J. T. Venter and Rudolf L. Verhoeven, the botanists who first formally described the species named it, using the synonym Raphionacme lobulata, after the distinctive lobes of the corona of its flowers.