Saint Helena is a British possession in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote volcanic tropical island 1,950 kilometres west of the coast of south-western Africa, and 4,000 kilometres (2,500 mi) east of Rio de Janeiro in South America. It is one of three constituent parts of the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha.
Saint Helena is an island in the South Atlantic Ocean, about midway between South America and Africa. St Helena has a land area of 122 square kilometres and is part of the territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha which includes Ascension Island and the island group of Tristan da Cunha.
William Roxburgh FRSE FRCPE FLS was a Scottish surgeon and botanist who worked extensively in India, describing species and working on economic botany. He is known as the founding father of Indian botany. He published numerous works on Indian botany, illustrated by careful drawings made by Indian artists and accompanied by taxonomic descriptions of many plant species. Apart from the numerous species that he named, many species were named in his honour by his collaborators.
The Saint Helena scrub and woodlands ecoregion covers the volcanic island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean. The island's remote location gave rise to many endemic species. First discovered and settled in the 1500s, the island has been degraded by human activities. Most of its native habitat has been destroyed, and many of its unique plants and animals are extinct or endangered.
Wahlenbergia is a genus of around 260 species of flowering plants in the family Campanulaceae. Plants in this genus are perennial or annual herbs with simple leaves and blue to purple bell-shaped flowers, usually with five petals lobes. Species of Wahlenbergia are found on all continents except North America, and on some isolated islands, but the greatest diversity occurs in the Southern Hemisphere.
The Saint Helena olive is an extinct species of flowering plant. It is the only member of the genus Nesiota. It was endemic to the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean. Despite its name, it is unrelated to the true olive, but is instead a member of the family Rhamnaceae, the family which contains buckthorns and jujube. The last remaining tree in the wild died in 1994, and the last remaining individual in cultivation died in December 2003, despite conservation efforts. It is thus a prime example of recent plant extinction. The Saint Helena olive belongs to the tribe Phyliceae, which are mostly endemic to Southern Africa.
Acalypha rubrinervis is an extinct plant in the spurge family (Euphorbiaceae), from the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean. It was called string tree on account of the thin pendulous inflorescences which resembled red strings. Disturbance following human settlement on the island destroyed its habitat and it was last seen in the 19th century. It is thus one of a number of island plants to have been driven to extinction by human activity.
The flora of Saint Helena, an isolated island in the South Atlantic Ocean, is exceptional in its high level of endemism and the severe threats facing the survival of the flora. In phytogeography, it is in the phytochorion St. Helena and Ascension Region of the African Subkingdom, in the Paleotropical Kingdom.
Dicksonia arborescens, the Saint Helena tree fern, is a characteristic plant of the "tree fern thicket" vegetation of the highest parts of the central ridge of the island of Saint Helena. It is the type species of the genus Dicksonia.
The flowering plant genus Trochetiopsis consists of two extant and one extinct species endemic to the island of Saint Helena. They were formerly placed in the family Sterculiaceae, but this is included in the expanded Malvaceae in the APG and most subsequent systematics.
Heliotropium pannifolium, the Saint Helena heliotrope, is now extinct but was formerly a hairy-leaved small shrub up to 1 m in height. it was only seen once, by the explorer W. Burchell in Broad Gut, Saint Helena and has never been seen again. Human impact on the island of Saint Helena was severe and the Saint Helena heliotrope is one of several extinct plants from that island.
Saint Helena, Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha, as well the other uninhabited islands nearby, are a haven for wildlife in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The islands are or were home to much endemic flora and fauna, especially invertebrates, and many endemic fish species found in the reef ecosystems off the islands. The islands have been identified by BirdLife International as Important Bird Areas for both their endemic landbirds and breeding seabirds.
The Paleotropical Kingdom (Paleotropis) is a floristic kingdom comprising tropical areas of Africa, Asia and Oceania, as proposed by Ronald Good and Armen Takhtajan. Part of its flora, inherited from the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana or exchanged later, is shared with the Neotropical Kingdom, comprising tropical areas of Central and South America. Moreover, the Paleotropical flora influenced the tropical flora of the Australian Kingdom. The Paleotropical Kingdom is subdivided into five floristic subkingdoms according to Takhtajan and about 13 floristic regions. In this article the floristic subkingdoms and regions are given as delineated by Takhtajan.
Diana's Peak is the highest point, at 818 metres (2,684 ft), on the island of Saint Helena, a British overseas territory in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is of volcanic origin. The mountain and its surroundings with a total area of 81 ha were proclaimed a national park in March 1996, the first on the island. It is a preserve of several endangered endemic species, including tree fern, he cabbage and black cabbage trees, and whitewood. The park contains walking paths connecting the peaks - Mt. Actaeon (814m), Diana's Peak and Cuckold's Point (815m). The two shorter peaks are topped by large Norfolk pines. On the northern slopes there is a nursery for endemic species.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Saint Helena:
Ascension Island is an isolated volcanic island, 7°56′ south of the Equator in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is about 1,000 miles (1,600 km) from the coast of Africa and 1,400 miles (2,300 km) from the coast of Brazil. It is governed as part of the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, of which the main island, Saint Helena, is around 800 miles (1,300 km) to the southeast. The territory also includes the sparsely populated Tristan da Cunha archipelago, 2,300 miles (3,700 km) to the south, about halfway to the Antarctic Circle.
Chrysophyllum roxburghii is a plant species in the family Sapotaceae. It grows as a tree up to 30 metres (100 ft) tall, with a trunk diameter of up to 40 cm (16 in). The bark is grey to dark brown. Inflorescences bear up to 45 flowers. The fruit are brownish to purplish black, ripening yellow, round, up to 4 cm (2 in) in diameter. Its habitat is lowland forests from sea level to 700 metres (2,300 ft) altitude. C. roxburghii grows naturally in Madagascar, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Queensland.
Eugenia roxburghii is a species of plant in the family Myrtaceae which is native to India and Sri Lanka. It is a 5 metres (16 ft) tall tree with round, rough, brown branches. Leaves are shiny green in color which are oppositely arranged. Flowers are white in color and have four-petals. Fruit is a deep orange-colored berry. Flowering starts on March and ends with late April.
Habenaria roxburghii, commonly known as Roxburgh's habenaria, malle leena gadda and as chekku dumpa in Telugu, is a species of orchid found in southern India. It is a tuberous terrestrial herb, 250–350 mm (10–10 in) tall. There are two or three more or less round leaves, about 70 mm (3 in) long and 50 mm (2 in) wide lying flat on the ground. The flowers pure white are arranged in long, dense cluster up to 80 mm (3 in) long. The sepals are broad egg-shaped, about 8 mm (0.3 in) long and the labellum has three lobes. The middle lobe is 8 mm (0.3 in) long and the side lobes are small. The species is usually found in shady places in the undergrowth of forests and is found in the Eastern Ghats.
Roger Charles Carolin is a botanist, pteridologist and formerly an associate professor at Sydney University. He was appointed as a lecturer in botany at the University of Sydney in 1955 earned a Ph.D from Sydney University in 1962 with a thesis on the floral morphology of the campanales, and retired as an associate professor in 1989.
