Tetrameles | |
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In the Ta Prohm temple ruins in Cambodia | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Cucurbitales |
Family: | Tetramelaceae |
Genus: | Tetrameles R.Br. |
Species: | T. nudiflora |
Binomial name | |
Tetrameles nudiflora R.Br. | |
Tetrameles is a genus of flowering plants in the family Tetramelaceae with one species, Tetrameles nudiflora. It grows as a large deciduous tree and is found across southern Asia from India through southeast Asia, Malesia, and into northern Australia. The largest tree in Thailand is of this species, and was measured on February 29, 2016 by dendrologist Marc Meyer using a Nikon Forestry 500/pro laser. Its height is exactly 64.20 meters (210ft 7in) with a girth of exactly 24.20 meters ( 25ft 6in). [2]
Robert Brown described Tetrameles nudiflora in 1844, from material collected in Java. [3] It is the only species in its genus Tetrameles, [4] and together with Octomeles sumatrana comprise the only two species in the family Tetramelaceae. They were previously classified in the Datiscaceae but found genetically to not form a natural clade with the other members of that family. [5]
Tetrameles nudiflora grows as a large dioecious tree, capable of growing over 45 m tall with a spread of over 10 m. [6] The trunk is buttressed, [4] and the bark is grey and often shiny. The tree often contains large hollows in the trunk or branches. It is deciduous, bare of leaves between October and December in Australia [3] and typically January–April in Vietnam. The genus name is derived from the Ancient Greek tetra "four" and melos "part", and refers to the flower having four sepals. The species name is from the Latin nudiflora "bare flowers". [6] The largest known tree in Thailand and the largest known of its species anywhere, is a Tetrameles nudiflora at Ko Yao Noi, Phangnga, Thailand which has a DBH (Diameter at Breast Height) of 25ft 3in (24.20 meters girth) [7]
Tetrameles nudiflora is a subtropical and tropical forest species, native to India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, China, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, East Timor, Papua New Guinea, and into the Cape York Peninsula in north Queensland (Australia). [4]
In India, these trees can be found in particularly large numbers in the Thattekad Bird Sanctuary, Kerala. In Myanmar, an old, around 60 m (200 ft) specimen can be found in the University of Yangon campus (illustrated). In Vietnam, where the species is called tung or thung, a number of fine specimens are shown to visitors in Cat Tien National Park – one within walking distance of the park headquarters.
Many specimens have grown to immense proportions of height and width. Its large size means that Tetrameles nudiflora is suited to nature reserves, parks and other large spaces rather than private gardens. [6]
Despite its timber being soft, it is used in New Guinea to make canoes. [6] T. nudiflora does not require deep soil and is a useful 'coloniser' species for forest regeneration.
Liriodendron is a genus of two species of characteristically large trees, deciduous over most of their populations, in the magnolia family (Magnoliaceae).
Metasequoia, or dawn redwood, is a genus of fast-growing coniferous trees, one of three species of conifers known as redwoods. The living species Metasequoia glyptostroboides is native to Lichuan county in Hubei province, China. Although the shortest of the redwoods, it grows to at least 165 feet in height. Local villagers refer to the original tree from which most others derive as Shuǐshān (水杉), or "water fir", which is part of a local shrine. Since its rediscovery in 1944, the dawn redwood has become a popular ornamental, with examples found in various parks in a variety of countries.
Metasequoia glyptostroboides, the dawn redwood, is a fast-growing, endangered deciduous conifer. It is the sole living species of the genus Metasequoia, one of three genera in the subfamily Sequoioideae of the family Cupressaceae. It now survives in the wild only in wet lower slopes and montane river and stream valleys in the border region of Hubei and Hunan provinces and Chongqing municipality in south-central China, notably in Lichuan county in Hubei. Although the shortest of the redwoods, it can grow to 167 ft (51 m) in height.
Grammatophyllum speciosum, also called giant orchid, tiger orchid, sugar cane orchid or queen of the orchids, is a species of orchid native to Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo, Indonesia and Malaysia. It has also been recorded in the Philippines, New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. It is listed by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's tallest orchid, with specimens recorded up to 7.62 metres (25 ft) in height.
Glyptostrobus pensilis, known in Chinese as 水松, and also Chinese swamp cypress, is an endangered conifer, and the sole living species in the genus Glyptostrobus.
Phytolacca dioica, commonly known as ombú in Spanish and umbu in Portuguese, is a massive evergreen tree in the Pokeweed Family (Phytolaccaceae) native to the Pampas of South America. As its specific epithet suggests, it is dioecious, with male and female flowers on separate plants. The flowers are pollinated by the butterfly Doxocopa laurentia. It has an umbrella-like canopy that spreads to a diameter of 12 to 15 meters and can attain a height of 12 to 18 meters. This upper growth springs up from a tuberous caudex which, according to Everett "may occupy a circle sixty feet [18 meters] in diameter". One tree of such a size—mentioned by Anglo-Argentine writer William Henry Hudson in his autobiography Far Away and Long Ago—was 50 feet (15 m) girth above the caudex. Another large specimen, observed in 1867 by David Christison, at Belgrano, Buenos Aires, Argentina, measured "32 feet (9.8 m) in girth...clear of the projecting buttresses". Because it is derived from herbaceous ancestors, its trunk consists of anomalous secondary thickening rather than true wood. As a result, the ombú grows fast but its wood is soft and spongy enough to be cut with a knife. These properties have led it to be used in the art of bonsai, as it is easily manipulated to create the desired effect. Since the sap is poisonous, the ombú is not grazed by cattle and is immune to locusts and other pests. For similar reasons, the leaves are sometimes used as a laxative or purgative. It is a symbol of Uruguay, Rio Grande do Sul and Argentina, and of gaucho culture, as its canopy is quite distinguishable from afar and provides comfort and shelter from sun and rain.
Ceiba speciosa, the floss silk tree, is a species of deciduous tree that is native to the tropical and subtropical forests of South America. It has several local common names, such as palo borracho, or árbol del puente, samu'ũ, or paineira. In Bolivia, it is called toborochi, meaning "tree of refuge" or "sheltering tree". In the USA it often is called the silk floss tree. It belongs to the same family as the baobab; the species Bombax ceiba; and other kapok trees. Another tree of the same genus, Ceiba chodatii, is often referred to by the same common names.
Eucalyptus jacksonii, commonly known as the red tingle, is a species of tall tree endemic to the southwest of Western Australia and is one of the tallest trees found in the state. It has thick, rough, stringy reddish bark from the base of the trunk to the thinnest branches, egg-shaped to lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven, white flowers and shortened spherical to barrel-shaped fruit.
Aglaia spectabilis is a species of tree in the family Meliaceae, found from the Santa Cruz Islands in the southwest Pacific to Queensland (Australia), Southeast Asia, Yunnan (Zhōngguó/China) and the Indian subcontinent. It grows from a 1m shrub to an emergent 40m tall tree, depending on the habitat. Its wood is commercially exploited as timber, but otherwise is of poor quality with limited use. The fruit are eaten, and used in folk medicine. The seeds are large in comparison to other plants, and a major source of dispersal of the species are hornbills eating the fruit, flying away from the tree and regurgitating the seeds.It is also found in Assam, India
Octomeles is a monotypic genus of plant in family Tetramelaceae. The sole species is Octomeles sumatrana, sometimes written O. sumatranum.
Vatica harmandiana, also known by the synonym Vatica cinerea, is a species of plant in the family Dipterocarpaceae. It is a smallish tree native to Southeast Asia. It is the most common plant species in certain types of mature woodland habitat within its range and is furthermore common in disturbed secondary forests covering much of its range, nonetheless it was considered, along with most Dipterocarpaceae, to be endangered by the IUCN between 1998 and 2017. It is usually not commercially harvested except for local use.
The Central Indochina dry forests are a large tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests ecoregion in Southeast Asia.
Syzygium fullagarii, commonly known as the scalybark, is a relatively large tree in the family Myrtaceae. It is found only on Lord Howe Island. It grows to 20 metres tall, up to an altitude of 400 metres above sea level in sheltered areas, often in rainforest. The bark is reddish brown, usually flaking to the touch. The base of the tree is often heavily buttressed. Known for many years as Cleistocalyx fullagarii, however, in recent times it has been placed in the large genus Syzygium.
Tree girth is a measurement of the circumference of tree trunk. It is one of the most ancient, quickest, and simplest of foresters' measures of size and records of growth of living and standing trees. The methods and equipment have been standardized differently in different countries. A popular use of this measurement is to compare outstanding individual trees from different locations or of different species.
Trees have a wide variety of sizes and shapes and growth habits. Specimens may grow as individual trunks, multitrunk masses, coppices, clonal colonies, or even more exotic tree complexes. Most champion tree programs focus finding and measuring the largest single-trunk example of each species. There are three basic parameters commonly measured to characterize the size of a single trunk tree: tree height measurement, tree girth measurement, and tree crown measurement. Foresters also perform tree volume measurements. A detailed guideline to these basic measurements is provided in The Tree Measuring Guidelines of the Eastern Native Tree Society by Will Blozan.
Mayodendron is a monotypic genus in the flowering plant family Bignoniaceae. The single species it contains, Mayodendron igneum, is native to southern China, India, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam. It is sometimes included within Radermachera.
Terminalia pendula is an Asian species of tree in the family Combretaceae. It is a medium-sized tree found in both primary and secondary tropical and sub-tropical forests. It is recorded from India to China, south to Thailand and Vietnam. It may be one of the dominant species of seasonal tropical forests of Vietnam. In Yunnan it is found in rocky limestone areas, near sea level to 700 m (2,300 ft). Besides timber uses, the bark of this species has a high tannin content.
The Chao Phraya lowland moist deciduous forests is a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion in Thailand. The ecoregion occupies the coastal lowlands along the Gulf of Thailand lying east and west of the Chao Phraya River.
The Tonle Sap freshwater swamp forests ecoregion covers the seasonally flooded forests surrounding Tonlé Sap, the largest lake in Cambodia, and the floodplains of its connections to the Mekong River. Over 35% of the ecoregion experiences flooding during the wet season.