Merrillia

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Merrillia
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Sapindales
Family: Rutaceae
Subfamily: Aurantioideae
Genus: Merrillia
Swingle
Species:
M. caloxylon
Binomial name
Merrillia caloxylon
(Ridl.) Swingle
Synonyms [2]
  • Murraya caloxylonRidl.

Merrillia is a monotypic genus [1] of flowering plants in the citrus family, Rutaceae, containing the single species Merrillia caloxylon. Its English language common names include flowering merrillia, katinga, and Malay lemon. In Malaysia it is called ketenggah and kemuning gajah. [3] The species is native to Malaysia, Thailand, and Sumatra in Indonesia. [2]

Contents

This species is a member of the Rutaceae subfamily Aurantioideae, which includes the genus Citrus . [4] It has been placed as the only genus and species in the subtribe Merrilliinae, which are known technically as the large-fruited remote citroid fruit trees. [5] The genus is sunk into Murraya by some sources, [6] but accepted in a 2021 classification of the Rutaceae. [4]

Description

This species is a tree often reaching up to 20 meters tall, sometimes approaching 30 meters. [3] One report from 1932 mentions a specimen collected from a tree 33.6 meters tall. If the report is valid it would be the largest tree of the Aurantioideae. The trunk has a light, flaking bark. The leaves can exceed 20 centimeters in length, [7] and each is made up of 5 to 13 leaflets up to about 10 centimeters long, the basal ones smaller than the others. They are thin, bright green, and somewhat lance-shaped with triangular bases. [7] The flowers are solitary, paired, [3] or borne in panicles. [7] They are white to yellow-green and trumpet-shaped with petals up to 1.8 centimeters long. The oblong fruit is up to 11 centimeters long by 7.5 wide. [3] It has a warty peel over a centimeter thick. It is green, turning yellow with maturity. The fruit contains a tasteless, fibrous, olive-green pulp. [7]

The native habitat of the tree includes primary and secondary tropical forest. [3]

Uses

The species has been noted for its wood, which is bright yellow with dark brown streaks. It is a hard wood used historically in Malaysia to make walking sticks and kris handles. It was also good for making furniture and boxes. The species was too rare to provide a supply of commercial timber. [7]

Several coumarins have been isolated from the roots, including one named merrillin. [8] The alkaloid yuehchukene has been found in the bark; it is a compound well known from the related genus Murraya . [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rutaceae</span> Family of flowering plants in the order Sapindales

The Rutaceae is a family, commonly known as the rue or citrus family, of flowering plants, usually placed in the order Sapindales.

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

Murraya is a genus of flowering plants in the citrus family, Rutaceae. It is distributed in Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Islands. The center of diversity is in southern China and Southeast Asia. When broadly circumscribed, the genus has about 17 species. A narrower circumscription contains only eight species, others being placed in Bergera and Merrillia.

Citropsis is a genus of flowering plants in the citrus family, Rutaceae. They are known generally as African cherry oranges. They are native to Africa.

<i>Murraya paniculata</i> Species of plant

Murraya paniculata, commonly known as orange jasmine, orange jessamine, china box or mock orange, is a species of shrub or small tree in the family Rutaceae and is native to South Asia, Southeast Asia and Australia. It has smooth bark, pinnate leaves with up to seven egg-shaped to elliptical leaflets, fragrant white or cream-coloured flowers and oval, orange-red berries containing hairy seeds.

Burkillanthus is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the citrus family, Rutaceae, containing the single species Burkillanthus malaccensis. It is native to Sumatra in Indonesia. It is also native to the Malay Peninsula and Sarawak in Malaysia, but it is extirpated from the peninsula and in Sarawak it was only known from a single specimen collected in 1961. Its common name is Malay ghostlime.

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

Glycosmis is a genus of flowering plants in the citrus family, Rutaceae and tribe Clauseneae. It is in the subfamily Aurantioideae, which also includes genus Citrus. It is a genus of the subtribe Clauseninae, which are known technically as the remote citroid fruit trees.

Monanthocitrus oblanceolata is a species of flowering plant in the citrus family, Rutaceae. It is endemic to Sabah in Malaysia. It was first described in 1988.

Monanthocitrus is a genus of flowering plants in the citrus family, Rutaceae. General common names for the genus include spotseed-lime and monanthocitrus.

The false oranges are a group of flowering plants in the Citrus genus, within the family, Rutaceae. They are endemic to New Caledonia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of California, Riverside Citrus Variety Collection</span>

The UCR Citrus Variety Collection (CVC) is one of the most important collections of citrus diversity in the world. It is used for research, plant breeding, and educational extension activities on the UC Riverside campus in Riverside, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aurantioideae</span> Subfamily of flowering plants

Aurantioideae is the subfamily within the rue and citrus family (Rutaceae) that contains the citrus. The subfamily's center of diversity is in the monsoon region of eastern Australasia, extending west through South Asia into Africa, and eastwards into Polynesia.

<i>Senna didymobotrya</i> Species of legume

Senna didymobotrya is a species of flowering plant in the legume family known by the common names African senna, popcorn senna, candelabra tree, and peanut butter cassia. It is native to Africa, where it can be found across the continent in several types of habitats.

<i>Zanthoxylum asiaticum</i> Species of plant

Zanthoxylum asiaticum is a species of plant in the family Rutaceae. Under its synonym Toddalia asiatica, it was the only species in the monotypic genus Toddalia, now included in Zanthoxylum. It is known by the English name orange climber.

<i>Clymenia</i> (plant) Genus of fruits and plants

Clymenia is a small genus of flowering plants in the family Rutaceae with two species. The genus is often included in Citrus.

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

Clausena is a genus of flowering plants in the citrus family, Rutaceae. It was first defined by the Dutch botanist Nicolaas Laurens Burman in 1768. It is distributed in Africa, southern Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Islands.

<i>Pouteria viridis</i> Species of flowering plant

Pouteria viridis is a species of flowering plant in the family Sapotaceae known by the common name green sapote.

<i>Euonymus hamiltonianus</i> Species of flowering plant

Euonymus hamiltonianus, known by the common names Hamilton's spindletree, Himalayan spindle, and Siebold's spindle is a species of flowering plant in the family Celastraceae. It is native to Asia, where it is distributed in Afghanistan, Russia, China, Japan, Korea, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bhutan, Thailand, and Myanmar. This is one of the most common Euonymus species. It is cultivated in gardens and landscapes in other parts of the world.

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

Micromelum is a genus of eight species of flowering plants in the family Rutaceae.

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

Atalantia is a genus of flowering plants in the citrus family, the Rutaceae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clauseneae</span> Tribe of flowering plants

Clauseneae is one of the two tribes of the flowering plant family Rutaceae, subfamily Aurantioideae, the other being Citreae, which includes Citrus.

References

  1. 1 2 World Conservation Monitoring Centre (1998). "Merrillia caloxylon". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 1998: e.T32108A9679768. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.1998.RLTS.T32108A9679768.en . Retrieved 15 November 2021.
  2. 1 2 "Merrillia caloxylon". Germplasm Resources Information Network . Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture . Retrieved 21 January 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Lim, T. K. (2012). Merrillia caloxylon. In: Edible Medicinal And Non-Medicinal Plants. Springer Netherlands. 890-92.
  4. 1 2 Appelhans, Marc S.; Bayly, Michael J.; Heslewood, Margaret M.; Groppo, Milton; Verboom, G. Anthony; Forster, Paul I.; Kallunki, Jacquelyn A. & Duretto, Marco F. (2021). "A new subfamily classification of the Citrus family (Rutaceae) based on six nuclear and plastid markers". Taxon. 70 (5): 1035–1061. doi: 10.1002/tax.12543 . hdl: 11343/288824 .
  5. ↑ Citrus Variety Collection. University of California, Riverside.
  6. ↑ "Merrillia Swingle", Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, retrieved 2021-09-23[ dead link ]
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Citrus Variety Collection: Merrillia caloxylon. University of California, Riverside.
  8. ↑ Bin Zakaria, M., et al. (1989). Coumarins of Merrillia caloxylon. Phytochemistry 28(2), 657-59.
  9. ↑ Kong, Y., et al. (1988). The biochemical systematics of Merrillia; in relation to Murraya, the Clauseneae and the Aurantioideae. Biochemical Systematics and Ecology 16(1), 47-50.
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