Maianthemum macrophyllum

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Maianthemum macrophyllum
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Asparagaceae
Subfamily: Nolinoideae
Genus: Maianthemum
Species:
M. macrophyllum
Binomial name
Maianthemum macrophyllum
(M.Martens & Galeotti) LaFrankie
Synonyms [1]
  • Smilacina macrophyllaM.Martens & Galeotti.

Maianthemum macrophyllum is a perennial flowering plant. It is a rare epiphtic herb endemic to Veracruz and Oaxaca, Mexico [2] [1] and is known only from primary cloud forests, usually growing on limbs of oaks or sweetgum ( Liquidambar styraciflua ). [3]

Contents

Description

Plants grow from 0.75–1.25 m (2–4 ft) [3] tall off a forked rhizome with evenly scattered roots. Stems are slightly arching, hairless and leafy. There are 13-18 leaves set 2.5–4 cm (1–2 in) apart; more closely spaced near the tip of the plant. [3]

Leaves

Leaves have a 5–9 mm long petiole. Leaf blades are hairless, shiny, egg- to lance-shaped with pointed tips and rounded bases and with flat (not undulating) edges. The veins are evident. Upper leaves are 14–21 cm (6–8 in) long by 4.5–8 cm (2–3 in) wide. Lower leaves tend to be shorter but of similar width; 10–16 cm (4–6 in) long by 5–8 cm (2–3 in) wide. [3]

Flowering clusters

60 to 120 flowers are set in a dense, complex raceme. It is composed of a main axis that arches upwards and is straight, stiff, 10–20 cm long, green, smooth and of uniform width. 25 to 50 nodes 5–10 mm apart are arranged in a helix around the main axis. Each node has 2 to 4 flowers set on drooping pedicels that are usually 4–6 mm long.

Flowers and fruits

The flowers are yellow-green to green-white and cup-shaped with tepals 4.5-5.5 mm long. Stamens are inserted at the base of the tepals. Blooming takes 3–4 weeks, with lower flowers opening first, and proceeding up the axis. Fruits are rounded, 8–9 mm across, green when immature, ripening to red. Flowering is from April to June, fruiting through to October.

Distribution

Maianthemum macrophyllum has only been documented in Veracruz and Oaxaca, Mexico. [4]

Habitat and ecology

It is known only from primary cloud forests, usually growing on limbs of oaks or sweetgum ( Liquidambar styraciflua ) [3] at 1300 to 2600 m. [4]

Related Research Articles

<i>Liquidambar</i> Trees in the Altingiaceae family

Liquidambar, commonly called sweetgum (star gum in the UK), gum, redgum, satin-walnut, or American storax, is the only genus in the flowering plant family Altingiaceae and has 15 species. They were formerly often treated in Hamamelidaceae. They are native to Southeast and east Asia, the eastern Mediterranean and eastern North America. They are decorative deciduous trees that are used in the wood industry and for ornamental purposes.

<i>Liquidambar styraciflua</i> Tree species

American sweetgum, also known as American storax, hazel pine, bilsted, redgum, satin-walnut, star-leaved gum, alligatorwood, or simply sweetgum, is a deciduous tree in the genus Liquidambar native to warm temperate areas of eastern North America and tropical montane regions of Mexico and Central America. Sweetgum is one of the main valuable forest trees in the southeastern United States, and is a popular ornamental tree in temperate climates. It is recognizable by the combination of its five-pointed star-shaped leaves and its hard, spiked fruits. It is currently classified in the plant family Altingiaceae, but was formerly considered a member of the Hamamelidaceae.

<i>Maianthemum</i> Genus of flowering plants

Maianthemum includes the former genus Smilacina and is a genus of perennial herbaceous flowering plants with fleshy, persistent rhizomes. It is widespread across much of North America, Europe and Asia, and may be terrestrial, aquatic or epiphytic. It is characterized by simple, unbranched stems that are upright, leaning or hanging down and have 2–17 foliage leaves. Leaves are simple and may clasp the stem or be short-petiolate. The inflorescence is terminal and either a panicle or a raceme with few to many pedicelate flowers. Most species have 6 tepals and 6 stamens; a few have parts in 4s. Tepals are distinct in most species and all of similar size. Flowers are spreading, cup-shaped or bell-shaped and usually white, but lavender to red or green in some species. Fruits are rounded to lobed berries containing few to several seeds.

<i>Maianthemum canadense</i> Species of flowering plant

Maianthemum canadense is an understory perennial flowering plant, native to Canada and the northeastern United States, from Yukon and British Columbia east to Newfoundland, into St. Pierre and Miquelon. It can be found growing in both coniferous and deciduous forests. The plant appears in two forms, either as a single leaf rising from the ground with no fruiting structures or as a flowering/fruiting stem with 2-3 leaves. Flowering shoots have clusters of 12–25 starry-shaped, white flowers held above the leaves.

<i>Maianthemum racemosum</i> Species of flowering plant

Maianthemum racemosum, the treacleberry, feathery false lily of the valley, false Solomon's seal, Solomon's plume or false spikenard, is a species of flowering plant native to North America. It is a common, widespread plant with numerous common names and synonyms, known from every US state except Hawaii, and from every Canadian province and territory, as well as from Mexico.

<i>Maianthemum trifolium</i> Species of flowering plant

Maianthemum trifolium is a species of flowering plant that is associated with extremely wet environments and is native to Canada and the northeastern United States as well as St. Pierre and Miquelon and Asia (Siberia).

<i>Wachendorfia</i> Genus of flowering plants

Wachendorfia is a genus of perennial herbaceous plants that is assigned to the bloodroot family. The plants have a perennial rootstock with red sap. From the rootstock emerge lance- or line-shaped, sometime sickle-shaped, pleated, simple leaves set in a fan, that are flattened to create a left and right surface rather than an upper and lower surface. The leaves die when the seeds are shed in three of the species, and are perennial in one species. The rootstock also produces flowering stems annually that carry a panicle of zygomorphic, yellow or yellowish flowers in two distinct forms, one with the style and one stamen bent to the right and two stamens to the left, and vice versa. The fruit opens with three valves and each contains a single, hairy seed. All species only occur in the fynbos biome in the Cape provinces of South Africa.

<i>Liquidambar orientalis</i> Species of tree

Liquidambar Orientalis, commonly known as oriental sweetgum or Turkish sweetgum, is a deciduous tree in the genus Liquidambar, native to the eastern Mediterranean region, that occurs as pure stands mainly in the floodplains of southwestern Turkey and on the Greek island of Rhodes.

<i>Maianthemum stellatum</i> Species of flowering plant

Maianthemum stellatum is a species of flowering plant, native across North America. It has been found in northern Mexico, every Canadian province and territory except Nunavut, and from every US state except Hawaii and the states of the Southeast. It has little white buds in the spring, followed by delicate starry flowers, then green-and-black striped berries, and finally deep red berries in the fall.

<i>Maianthemum paniculatum</i> Species of flowering plant

Maianthemum paniculatum is a perennial flowering plant; a species of monocot found from Mexico to Panama. It is often associated with montane environments and is found primarily in forest openings and along roadsides.

Maianthemum amoenum is a perennial flowering plant, growing as an epiphyte on trees in cloud forests from Mexico south to Honduras.

Maianthemum monteverdense is a perennial flowering plant of restricted distribution. It grows as an epiphyte on trees in high cloud forests of 1600 m + elevation from Nicaragua to Costa Rica.

<i>Maianthemum gigas</i> Species of flowering plant

Maianthemum gigas is a perennial flowering plant. It is found in Mexico and Central America, growing in forest openings and along roadsides or sometimes as an epiphyte on trees.

Maianthemum paludicola is a perennial flowering plant. It is a rare terrestrial herb, endemic to Costa Rica. It has only been found in high-elevation bogs and wetlands and was first described in 1986.

<i>Maianthemum scilloideum</i> Species of flowering plant

Maianthemum scilloideum is a perennial flowering plant. It is a terrestrial forest herb from southern Mexico and Guatemala and also reported from Honduras.

Maianthemum flexuosum is a perennial, terrestrial understory herb of cloud forests from southern Mexico to Nicaragua. It has been found at sites from 1300 to 2800 m elevation.

Maianthemum salvinii is a rare perennial, epiphytic herb found in southern Mexico and Guatemala.

Maianthemum mexicanum is a perennial, terrestrial herb found as an understory species in moist forests. It is endemic to west-central Mexico.

Maianthemum comaltepecense is a rare perennial, terrestrial herb found as an understory species in moist forests and endemic to southwest Mexico.

<i>Babiana lobata</i> Species of flowering plant

Babiana lobata is a species of geophyte of 12–25 cm (4.7–9.8 in) high that is assigned to the family Iridaceae. It has leaves that consist of a sheath and a blade that are at a slight angle with each other. The leaf blades are narrow, sword- to lance-shaped and have a left and right surface, rather than an upper and lower surface. The leaf blades are slightly pleated and hairless. The inflorescence contains seven to twelve bluish mauve mirror-symmetrical flowers comprising six tepals, with the lower lateral tepals yellow sometimes flushed mauve at their tips, and with three stamens crowding under the dorsal tepal. Flowering occurs in July and August. The flowers emit a faint acrid-metallic scent. B. lobata grows in part of the Richtersveld in the Northern Cape province of South Africa.

References

  1. 1 2 Sicence, Kew. "Maianthemum macrophyllum (M.Martens & Galeotti) LaFrankie". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
  2. Espejo Serna, Adolfo (2012). "El endemismo en las Liliopsida mexicanas". Acta Bot. Mex. 100: 195–257. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 LaFrankie (October 1986). "Morphology and taxonomy of the new world species of Maianthemum (Liliaceae)". Journal of the Arnold Arboretum. 67 (4): 371–439.
  4. 1 2 Botanical Gardens, Missouri. "Maianthemum macrophyllum (M.Martens & Galeotti) LaFrankie". Tropicos. Retrieved 28 March 2021.