| Pometia | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Pometia pinnata | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Sapindales |
| Family: | Sapindaceae |
| Subfamily: | Sapindoideae |
| Genus: | Pometia J.R.Forst. & G.Forst |
| Type species | |
| Pometia pinnata J.R.Forst. & G.Forst. | |
| Synonyms [1] | |
| |
Pometia is a genus of 2 species of rainforest trees, constituting part of the plant family Sapindaceae. [1]
They are large trees, which are monoecious, [2] usually with buttress roots, with red exudate (substance like resin, pouring out of the trunk) when cut. The leaves are paripinnate, arranged alternate, sessile (without stalk). The leaflets are usually in many pairs, with the first pair (near base) small, like stipules, others evidently larger, usually serrate. The leaves have many lateral veins, extending to tips of dentate margins and parallel. The thyrses (flower on the branch) is terminal (at the end) or axillary (on a leaf joint). The flowers are unisexual and actinomorphic (radially symmetrical). The calyx is cupular (cup shaped). The sepals are half connate and valvate. It has 5 petals, usually broadly obovate or subtriangular, without scales or with 1 gland adaxially. The (flower) disk is annular and 5-lobed. It has 5 stamens (or male flowers) which are long exserted. The filaments are glabrous or hairy at base. The anthers are small. The ovary (or female flowers) is obcordiform, 2-lobed and 2-loculed. The lobes subglobose, glabrous or tomentose. They are 1 ovule per locule. The style is filiform (thread-like) and very long, with a twisted apex. The fruit is deeply parted into 2 schizocarps (dry fruits), usually with only 1 developed, ellipsoid. The pericarp (wall of the fruit) is thick, spongy in middle and smooth adaxially. The seeds are the same shape as schizocarps. The testa (seed coating) is leathery and the seeds are fully covered by an aril and adnate to testa. It has a curved embryo. [3]
The genus name of Pometia is in honour of Pierre Pomet (1658–1699), a French pharmacist. [4] It was first described and published in Char. Gen. Pl. on page 109 in 1776. [1]
According to Kew; [1]
They grow naturally in tropical and subtropical Asia and in the South Pacific. It is found in mainland southern China, Hainan and Taiwan islands, Sri Lanka, the Andaman Islands, Laos, Myanmar, Nicobar Islands, Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo, Java, Lesser Sunda Islands, Malaya, Maluku, Philippines, Sulawesi and Sumatera, (of Southeast Asia), the Bismarck Archipelago, New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, (of Papuasia), Fiji, (island of) Niue, Samoa, Santa Cruz Islands, Tonga, Tuamotu, Vanuatu and Wallis-Futuna Islands (all in the Pacific Ocean). [1]
It was later introduced into the Cook Islands, Marquesas Islands (Polynesia) and the Marshall Islands. [1]
They are found in rainforests, [5] and monsoon forests. [6]
In botany a capsule is a type of simple, dry, though rarely fleshy dehiscent fruit produced by many species of angiosperms.
The Sapindaceae are a family of flowering plants in the order Sapindales known as the soapberry family. It contains 138 genera and 1,858 accepted species. Examples include horse chestnut, maples, ackee and lychee.
Aleurites is a small genus of arborescent flowering plants in the Euphorbiaceae, first described as a genus in 1776. It is native to China, the Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia, Papuasia, and Queensland. It is also reportedly naturalized on various islands as well as scattered locations in Africa, South America, and Florida.
Spathiostemon is a genus of trees in the Euphorbiaceae family. It is native to the Bismarck Archipelago, New Guinea, Wallacea and Southeast Asia. The trees grow between 10 and 20m tall, often in secondary forest. The wood is sometimes used.
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Semecarpus australiensis, commonly known as the tar tree, native cashew, marking nut, or cedar plum, is a species of tree in the cashew, sumac and mango family Anacardiaceae, native to parts of Melanesia and northern Australia. Contact with the plant can cause serious allergic reactions, a common characteristic of this family.
Celtis paniculata, commonly known as tripewood, silky keltis, silky celtis, native hackberry, native celtis, Investigator tree or whitewood, is a rainforest tree native to parts of Malesia, Melanesia and Australia.
Alchornea ilicifolia, commonly known as the native holly, is a bush of eastern Australia. It grows in or on the edges of the drier rainforests in coastal parts of New South Wales and Queensland.
Allophylus cobbe, commonly known as titberry or Indian allophylus, is a pantropical, shrub in the family Sapindaceae with many uses in traditional medicine. It has a highly variable morphology throughout its range and may prove to be more than one species.
Dodecadenia is a botanical genus of flowering plants in the family Lauraceae. It contains a single species, Dodecadenia grandiflora. It is present from central Asia, to Himalayas and India. It is present in tropical and subtropical montane rainforest, laurel forest, in the weed-tree forests in valleys, mixed forests of coniferous and deciduous broad-leaved trees, Tsuga forests; 2,000–2,600 metres (6,600–8,500 ft) in China in provinces of Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan, and countries of Bhutan, India, Myanmar, and Nepal.
Dillenia alata, commonly known as red beech, golden guinea flower or golden guinea tree, is a tree in the Dilleniaceae family, found in tropical forests of the Moluccas, New Guinea, and northern Australia.
Ilex umbellulata is an evergreen tree species related to holly, generally four to fifteen metres in height. It is found in Southeast Asia. This tree is most often found growing in forests.
Pimelodendron amboinicum is a tree species in the Euphorbiaceae family. It is found from the Solomon Islands in the southwest Pacific, west to Sulawesi in Indonesia. The timber is used locally, though larger-scale illegal logging is apparent.
Syzygium claviflorum is a tree in the Myrtaceae family. It is native to the north of the Australian continent and in tropical and subtropical Asia. It is used for timber, as fuel, as human and cattle food, and for dye. Stunted specimens can be found on the top of the plateau of Bokor National Park, Cambodia.
Aporosa octandra is a species of plant in the family Phyllanthaceae found from Queensland and New Guinea to Indonesia, Zhōngguó/China and India. It is a highly variable plant with 4 named varieties. Its wood is used in construction and to make implements, its fruit is edible. The Karbi people of Assam use the plant for dyeing, textile colours have quite some significance in their culture.
Hydriastele wendlandiana, commonly known as Wendland's palm, cat o' nine tails, creek palm or kentia palm, is a tall, multi-stemmed tree in the palm family Arecaceae. It is native to New Guinea and the Australian states of Queensland and the Northern Territory.
Myristica insipida, commonly known in Australia as Australian nutmeg, Queensland nutmeg or native nutmeg, is a small rainforest tree in the family Myristicaceae native to parts of Malesia, Papuasia and Australia. It is closely related to the commercially-important species of nutmeg, M. fragrans.
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