Rafflesia is a genus of parasitic flowering plants in the family Rafflesiaceae. The species have enormous flowers, the buds rising from the ground or directly from the lower stems of their host plants; one species has the largest flowers in the world. The genus contains approximately 28 species, all found in Southeast Asia, mainly in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines. For Western Europe, it was first discovered by French surgeon and naturalist Louis Deschamps in Java between 1791 and 1794, but his notes and illustrations, seized by the British in 1803, were not available to western science until 1861. The first British person to see one was Joseph Arnold in 1818, in the Indonesia rainforest in Bengkulu, Sumatra, after a Malay servant working for him discovered a flower and pointed it out to him. It was later named after Stamford Raffles, the leader of the expedition.
A liana is a long-stemmed, woody vine that is rooted in the soil at ground level and uses trees, as well as other means of vertical support, to climb up to the canopy in search of direct sunlight. The word liana does not refer to a taxonomic grouping, but rather a habit of plant growth – much like tree or shrub. It comes from standard French liane, itself from an Antilles French dialect word meaning to sheave.
Coccoloba uvifera is a species of flowering plant in the buckwheat family, Polygonaceae, that is native to coastal beaches throughout tropical America and the Caribbean, including southern Florida, the Bahamas, the Greater and Lesser Antilles, and Bermuda. Common names include seagrape and baygrape.
Mahonia is a genus of approximately 70 species of evergreen shrubs and, rarely, small trees in the family Berberidaceae, native to eastern Asia, the Himalaya, North and Central America. They are closely related to the genus Berberis and botanists disagree on whether to recognize a separate Mahonia. Many botanists prefer to classify Mahonia as a part of Berberis because several species in both genera are able to hybridize, and because there are no consistent morphological differences between the two groups other than the leaf pinnation. However, recent DNA-based phylogenetic studies retain the two separate genera, by clarifying that unifoliolate-leaved Berberis s.s. is derived from within a paraphyletic group of shrubs bearing imparipinnate evergreen leaves, which are then divided into three genera: Mahonia, Alloberberis, and Moranothamnus ; a broadly-circumscribed Berberis would also be monophyletic.
Rafflesia arnoldii is a species of flowering plant in the parasitic genus Rafflesia. It is noted for producing the largest individual flower on Earth. It has a strong and unpleasant odor of decaying flesh. It is native to the rainforests of Sumatra and Borneo. Although there are some plants with larger flowering organs like the titan arum and talipot palm, those are technically clusters of many flowers.
Cissus is a genus of approximately 350 species of lianas in the grape family (Vitaceae). They have a cosmopolitan distribution, though the majority are to be found in the tropics.
Koncordie Amalie Dietrich was a German naturalist who was best known for her pioneering work in Australia from 1863 to 1872, collecting specimens for the Museum Godeffroy in Hamburg.
Plinia cauliflora, the Brazilian grapetree, jaboticaba or jabuticaba, is a tree in the family Myrtaceae, native to Minas Gerais, Goiás and São Paulo states in Brazil. Related species in the genus Myrciaria, often referred to by the same common names, are native to Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Peru and Bolivia. The tree is known for its purplish-black, white-pulped fruits which grow directly on the trunk; they can be eaten raw or be used to make jellies, jams, juice or wine.
Tetrastigma is a genus of plants in the grape family, Vitaceae. The plants are lianas that climb with tendrils and have palmately compound leaves. Plants are dioecious, with separate male and female plants; female flowers are characterized by their four-lobed stigmas. The species are found in subtropical and tropical regions of Asia, Malaysia, and Australia, where they grow in primary rainforest, gallery forest and monsoon forest and moister woodland. Species of this genus are notable as being the sole hosts of parasitic plants in the family Rafflesiaceae, one of which, Rafflesia arnoldii, produces the largest single flower in the world. Tetrastigma is the donor species for horizontal gene transfer to Sapria and Rafflesia due to multiple gene theft events.
The genus Cayratia comprises approximately 45 species of plants, some of which have utility value to people. It is found in tropical and subtropical areas of Asia, Africa, Australia, and islands of the Pacific Ocean.
The blue-headed crested flycatcher is a species of bird in the family Monarchidae, native to the African tropical forest.
Ampelocissus acetosa is a species of vine. Common names include wild grape and djabaru.
Cissus hypoglauca is a common Australian vine. It is one of the better known climbing plants of the genus Cissus in the grape family. A very common climber in moist areas of eastern Australia, it often colonises large areas after forest damage due to storms, fire or logging. Common names include jungle grape, water vine, giant water vine, five-leaf water vine, jungle vine, native grapes and billangai.
Vitis silvestrii is a species of polygamo-dioecious plant in the grape family native to the forested slopes of western Hubei and southern Shaanxi in China from 300 to 1200 meters above sea level. Its flowers appear in May, males having abortive pistils
Vitis bryoniifolia is a prolific and adaptable, polygamo-dioecious species of climbing vine in the grape family native to China, where it is known as ying yu, or hua bei pu tao. The variant form ternata is known as san chu ying yu, meaning three-foliolate, or -leaflet ying yu. Ying yu translates to mean "hard jade".
Maclura cochinchinensis, commonly known as cockspur thorn, is a species of vine or scrambling shrub in the family Moraceae. The native range extends from China, through Malesia and into Queensland and northern New South Wales. The species inhabits various types of tropical forest: most commonly in monsoon forests. The globular, yellow or orange fruit are sweet and edible and were a traditional food source for Australian Aborigines.
Diplocyclos palmatus is a vine in the family Cucurbitaceae. It is commonly known as native bryony or striped cucumber. In Marathi, it is called shivlingi due to its seed which resembles a lingam.
Bothriochloa bladhii is a Neotropic grass in the family Poaceae, found primarily in tropical Africa, and tropical and temperate Asia, and Australia. The type specimen was collected from China by Finnish botanist Peter Johan Bladh. The name of Bladh is honored in the specific epithet.
Rhizanthes is a genus of four species of parasitic flowering plants in the family Rafflesiaceae. They are without leaves, stems, roots, or photosynthetic tissue, and grow within the roots of a few species of Tetrastigma vines. The genus is limited to the tropical forests of Southeast Asia. The flowers of Rhizanthes are very large, they vary from 14 to 43 cm in diameter. At least one species of Rhizanthes, Rh. lowii, is endothermic.
Hollandaea riparia, sometimes named roaring Meg hollandaea, is a species of Australian rainforest tree, in the plant family Proteaceae.
