Raukaua | |
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Raukaua laetevirens | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Asterids |
Order: | Apiales |
Family: | Araliaceae |
Subfamily: | Aralioideae |
Genus: | Raukaua Seem. |
Type species | |
Raukaua edgerleyi |
Raukaua is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araliaceae. It has an austral distribution, being indigenous to southern Argentina and Chile, as well as New Zealand and the island of Tasmania. [1]
Raukaua is a genus of woody plants. They vary in habit: for example R. laetevirens is a small tree, while R. valdiviensis is a liana. Like most of Araliaceae, they have palmately compound leaves. The leaves are heteroblastic, that is, conspicuously different in form from juvenile to adult. R. simplex often produces root suckers and on these, the further the sucker is from the main shoot, the more juvenile the form of the leaves. [1]
The Māori extracted an aromatic oil from the leaves of R. edgerleyi.[ citation needed ] The essential oils of the New Zealand species have been the subject of a phytochemical analysis. [2]
All of the species of Raukaua have been placed in Pseudopanax at one time or another, and sometimes in other genera as well. [3] Molecular phylogenetic comparisons of DNA sequences have shown that Raukaua is closely related to Schefflera sensu strictissimo, Cheirodendron , Motherwellia , and Cephalaralia (not Cephalaria !). [4] It might not be as close to Pseudopanax as was once believed. [5]
Raukaua is known to be polyphyletic and will eventually be revised, [4] but in its current circumscription, it comprises six species. [3] R. gunnii is endemic to Tasmania. R. laetevirens and R. valdiviensis are from southern Chile and Argentina, the latter being restricted to the Valdivian temperate rain forest.[ citation needed ]R. anomalus, R. edgerleyi, and R. simplex are from New Zealand.[ citation needed ] There are naturally occurring hybrids between R. simplex and the other two New Zealand species. [6]
The type species for Raukaua is Raukaua edgerleyi. [7]
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The genus Raukaua was erected by Berthold Carl Seemann in 1866 [8] in Journal of Botany, British and Foreign. [9] The genus name is a Latinization of Raukawa, the Māori name for Raukaua edgerleyi. [10] Upon publication, the name was misspelled as Raukana, complicating issues of priority and valid publication, but Seeman published a correction in 1868 that read "Raukaua, Seem., read always Raukaua.". [11]
Subsequently, most authors did not recognize Seemann's genus, and they usually placed its species in other genera, usually Pseudopanax .[ citation needed ] In cases where Raukaua was accepted, it usually included only the New Zealand species.
Raukaua was last revised in 1997, in the New Zealand Journal of Botany. [10] The status of the two hybrids was clarified in 1998. [6] In 2003, a checklist and nomenclator was published for Araliaceae. [3]
Phylogenetic studies of Araliaceae have indicated that Raukaua might be paraphyletic or polyphyletic. The polyphyly of Raukaua was confirmed and clarified in 2012, in a molecular phylogenetic study. [4] The following relationships were resolved. The New Zealand species are sister to a clade consisting of Schefflera sensu strictissimo and Cheirodendron . Schefflera s.ss. is a Melanesian and Polynesian group. [12] Cheirodendron is endemic to Hawaii. The South American species are sister to a clade comprising the Tasmanian R. gunnii and the monospecific mainland Australian genera Cephalaralia and Motherwellia . R. gunnii is sister to the clade [Cephalaralia + Motherwellia]. [4] Because of the polyphyly of Raukaua, its South American and Tasmanian species must eventually be transferred to other genera. A treatment of Araliaceae has already been submitted for the book series entitled The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants. [13]
The Araliaceae are a family of flowering plants composed of about 43 genera and around 1500 species consisting of primarily woody plants and some herbaceous plants. The morphology of Araliaceae varies widely, but it is predominantly distinguishable based on its woody habit, tropical distribution, and the presence of simple umbels.
GastoniaCommerson ex Lamarck is a formerly accepted genus of plants in the ivy and ginseng family, Araliaceae. It had been known as an unnatural group, but was recognized as late as 2010, when its nine species were distributed to four different subgenera of the large genus Polyscias. Because the genus Gastonia is now obsolete, its species are herein referred to by their names in Polyscias.
Ochnaceae is a family of flowering plants in the order Malpighiales. In the APG III system of classification of flowering plants, Ochnaceae is defined broadly, to include about 550 species, and encompasses what some taxonomists have treated as the separate families Medusagynaceae and Quiinaceae. In a phylogenetic study that was published in 2014, Ochnaceae was recognized in the broad sense, but two works published after APG III have accepted the small families Medusagynaceae and Quiinaceae. These have not been accepted by APG IV (2016).
Berthold Carl Seemann, was a German botanist. He travelled widely and collected and described plants from the Pacific and South America.
Schefflera is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araliaceae with 13 species native to New Zealand and some Pacific islands.
Polyscias racemosa, or false 'ohe, is a species of flowering plant in the family Araliaceae. As Munroidendron racemosum, the species was until recently considered to be the only species in the monotypic genus Munroidendron. With the change in classification, Munroidendron is now obsolete. Polyscias racemosa is endemic to the Hawaiian island of Kauai. It is very rare in the wild and some of its original habitat has been replaced by sugar cane plantations. It was thought for some time to be probably extinct, but was rediscovered a few years prior to 1967.
Vitex is a genus of flowering plants in the sage family Lamiaceae. It has about 250 species. Common names include chaste tree or chastetree, traditionally referring to V. agnus-castus, but often applied to other species, as well.
Meryta is a genus in the flowering plant family Araliaceae. There are 28 described species in the genus and a number of undescribed species, all small, resinous trees of the subtropical and tropical Pacific Ocean, characterized by huge, simple leaves and a dioecious sexual system, a unique combination in Araliaceae. Meryta has its center of diversity in New Caledonia. Phylogenetic analyses have placed Meryta as a monophyletic genus in one of the three major clades of the Araliaciae, the Polyscias-Pseudopanax group, and more specifically in the Pacific Schefflera subclade.
Arthrophyllum is a defunct genus of plants in the family Araliaceae. It was recognized by most authors until 2010, when all of its 30 species were "sunk" into Polyscias subgenus Arthrophyllum.
Cuphocarpus is an obsolete genus of flowering plants in the family Araliaceae. Mabberley (2008) treated it as a synonym of Polyscias, but other authors still recognized it at that time. In 2010, in a phylogenetic analysis of DNA sequences, it was shown that Cuphocarpus was biphyletic and embedded in the large genus Polyscias. In an accompanying paper, Polyscias was divided into 11 subgenera, with seven species left incertae sedis.
Reynoldsia is a formerly recognised genus of plants in the ivy family, Araliaceae. In 2003, Kew Gardens published a checklist for Araliaceae, in which eight species were recognized for Reynoldsia: four from Samoa, two from Tahiti, one from the Marquesas, and one from Hawaii. In 2010, a phylogenetic comparison of DNA data showed that Reynoldsia was polyphyletic, consisting of two groups that are not each other's closest relatives. In a companion paper, three of the species were "sunk" into synonymy with others, reducing the number of species to five. All species that were formerly in Reynoldsia are now in Polyscias subgenus Tetraplasandra, a subgenus of 21 species indigenous to Malesia and the Pacific islands.
Tetraplasandra is a no longer recognised genus of plants in the ivy family, Araliaceae. They are small to medium trees, of mesic to wet forests.
Aralioideae is a subfamily of flowering plants contains around 50 recognized genera. These include the genus Panax, to which ginseng belongs. Other notable species are the Angelica-tree, the devil's club, or common ivy.
Rondeletia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. It is endemic to the Neotropics. There are around 160 species.
Rotheca is a genus of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae. Estimates of the number of species in the genus vary from about 35 to as many as 60. Three of the species are native to tropical Asia, with the rest occurring in Sub-Saharan Africa. The type species for the genus is Rotheca serrata. It had originally been named Rotheca ternifolia, but this name is now considered illegitimate.
Platycarpha is a genus of South African plants within the family Asteraceae.
Hymenodictyon is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. It has about 30 species. All are native to the Old World. The wood of Hymenodictyon orixense is soft and has limited use, mostly for boxes. The type species for Hymenodictyon is Hymenodictyon orixense.
Grubbia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Grubbiaceae. The genus has three species, all endemic to the Cape Floristic Region of South Africa. They are shrubs that grow to 1.5 m (4.9 ft) tall, with tiny flowers and slender, leathery leaves. The fruit is a syncarp.
Pseudomertensia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Boraginaceae. They are perennial herbs with blue or bluish purple flowers. Their natural range is from Iran to the Himalayas. None have been found in China or Russia. P. echioides, and the type species for the genus, P. elongata, are occasionally cultivated as ornamentals.
Raukaua gunnii is a species of plant in the family Araliaceae native to Tasmania. It was previously known as Pseudopanax gunnii, but was found not to be closely related to the core members of Pseudopanax.