Neorites

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Neorites
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Proteales
Family: Proteaceae
Subfamily: Grevilleoideae
Tribe: Roupaleae
Subtribe: Roupalinae
Genus: Neorites
L.S.Sm.
Species:
N. kevedianus
Binomial name
Neorites kevedianus
L.S.Sm.
Synonyms
  • Neorites kevediana

Neorites is a monotypic genus of plants in the family Proteaceae. [1] The sole species Neorites kevedianus, commonly called fishtail oak or fishtail silky oak, is a tall tree endemic to the wet tropics rainforests of north eastern Queensland, Australia. [2] [3]

Contents

Taxonomy and naming

Queensland botanist Lindsay Smith named the species in 1969, based on a specimen collected near Kuranda in 1955 by Queensland forestry officers Kevin J. White and H. Edgar Volck. Smith coined the species name from the first names of the finders. [4]

Peter H. Weston and Nigel Barker refined the classification of the Proteaceae in 2006, incorporating molecular data. Here, Neorites emerged as closely related to the genera Orites and Roupala . They thus placed the three genera in the subtribe Roupalinae, conceding that the next closest relatives of this group is unclear. This group lies within the subfamily Grevilleoideae. [5] Clock dating with molecular and fossil data indicated ancestors of Neorites and the South American genus Roupala may have diverged in the mid-Oligocene around 30 million years ago, and that this lineage in turn separated from the ancestors of Orites in the late Eocene around 36 million years ago. [6]

A compound-leaved fossil species has been recovered from the middle Eocene Golden Grove site in Adelaide that closely resembles Neorites kevedianus. Although abundant at this site, it has not been recovered elsewhere. [7]

Description

Neorites kevedianus is a tree reaching 15–30 m (49–98 ft) in height. [2] The new growth is covered in brownish fur. [3]

Distribution and habitat

Neorites kevedianus is native to north Queensland, where it is found in rainforest on volcanic soils at altitudes from 150 to 1,150 metres (490 to 3,770 ft) above sea level. [2]

Related Research Articles

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Hicksbeachia is a genus of two species of trees in the family Proteaceae. They are native to rainforests of northern New South Wales and southeastern Queensland. They are commonly known as red bopple nut or beef nut due to the bright red colour of their fruits.

<i>Eidothea</i> Genus of rainforest trees in the family Proteaceae

Eidothea is a genus of two species of rainforest trees in New South Wales and Queensland, in eastern Australia, constituting part of the plant family Proteaceae. The plant family Proteaceae was named after the shape-shifting god Proteus of Greek mythology. The genus name Eidothea refers to one of the three daughters of Proteus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grevilleoideae</span> Subfamily of plants in the family Proteaceae, mainly from the Southern Hemisphere

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Triunia is a genus of medium to tall shrubs or small trees found as understorey plants in rainforests of eastern Australia. Members of the plant family Proteaceae, they are notable for their poisonous fleshy fruits or drupes. Only one species, T. youngiana, is commonly seen in cultivation.

<i>Alloxylon flammeum</i> Species of tree in the family Proteaceae

Alloxylon flammeum, commonly known as the Queensland tree waratah or red silky oak, is a medium-sized tree of the family Proteaceae found in the Queensland tropical rain forests of northeastern Australia. It has shiny green elliptical leaves up to 18 cm (7.1 in) long, and prominent orange-red inflorescences that appear from August to October, followed by rectangular woody seed pods that ripen in February and March. Juvenile plants have large deeply lobed pinnate leaves. Previously known as Oreocallis wickhamii, the initial specimen turned out to be a different species to the one cultivated and hence a new scientific name was required. Described formally by Peter Weston and Mike Crisp in 1991, A. flammeum was designated the type species of the genus Alloxylon. This genus contains the four species previously classified in Oreocallis that are found in Australasia.

<i>Buckinghamia</i> Genus of trees in the family Proteaceae endemic to north eastern Queensland, Australia

Buckinghamia is a genus of only two known species of trees, belonging to the plant family Proteaceae. They are endemic to the rainforests of the wet tropics region of north eastern Queensland, Australia. The ivory curl flower, B. celsissima, is the well known, popular and widely cultivated species in gardens and parks, in eastern and southern mainland Australia, and additionally as street trees north from about Brisbane. The second species, B. ferruginiflora, was only recently described in 1988.

<i>Bleasdalea</i> Genus of plants in the family Proteaceae

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<i>Roupala</i> Genus of plants in the family Proteaceae from Mexico to Argentina

Roupala is a Neotropical genus of woody shrubs and trees in the plant family Proteaceae. Its 34 species are generally found in forests from sea level to 4000 m altitude from Mexico to Argentina.

<i>Cardwellia</i> Monotypic genus of plants in the family Proteaceae

Cardwellia is a monotypic genus in the plant family Proteaceae. The sole described species is Cardwellia sublimis − commonly known as northern silky oak, bull oak or lacewood − which is endemic to the rainforests of northeastern Queensland, Australia.

<i>Telopea truncata</i> Shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to Tasmania

Telopea truncata, commonly known as the Tasmanian waratah, is a plant in the family Proteaceae. It is endemic to Tasmania where it is found on moist acidic soils at altitudes of 600 to 1200 m (2000–4000 ft). Telopea truncata is a component of alpine eucalypt forest, rainforest and scrub communities. It grows as a multistemmed shrub to a height of 3 metres (10 ft), or occasionally as a small tree to 10 m (35 ft) high, with red flower heads, known as inflorescences, appearing over the Tasmanian summer and bearing 10 to 35 individual flowers. Yellow-flowered forms are occasionally seen, but do not form a population distinct from the rest of the species.

<i>Alloxylon pinnatum</i> Tree of the family Proteaceae found in south-east Queensland and northern New South Wales

Alloxylon pinnatum, known as Dorrigo waratah, is a tree of the family Proteaceae found in warm-temperate rainforest of south-east Queensland and northern New South Wales in eastern Australia. It has shiny green leaves that are either pinnate (lobed) and up to 30 cm (12 in) long, or lanceolate (spear-shaped) and up to 15 cm (5.9 in) long. The prominent pinkish-red flower heads, known as inflorescences, appear in spring and summer; these are made up of 50 to 140 individual flowers arranged in corymb or raceme. These are followed by rectangular woody seed pods, which bear two rows of winged seeds.

Finschia is a genus of three recognised species of large trees, constituting part of the plant family Proteaceae. They grow naturally in New Guinea and its surrounding region, in habitats from luxuriant lowland rainforests to steep highland forests.

<i>Cenarrhenes</i> Monotypic genus of plants in the family Proteaceae

Cenarrhenes is a monytypic genus in the family Proteaceae containing the single species Cenarrhenes nitida, known as the Port Arthur plum or native plum. Cenarrhenes nitida is an evergreen shrub to small tree endemic to the rainforests and scrublands of western Tasmania. It bears white flowers in late spring followed by the development of fleshy fruit.

<i>Darlingia ferruginea</i> Species of rainforest tree of the family Proteaceae from Northern Queensland

Darlingia ferruginea, commonly known as the brown silky oak, is a rainforest tree of the family Proteaceae from Northern Queensland.

Hollandaea is a small genus of plants in the family Proteaceae containing four species of Australian rainforest trees. All four species are endemic to restricted areas of the Wet Tropics of northeast Queensland.

<i>Opisthiolepis</i> Genus of plants

Opisthiolepis is a genus of a sole described species of large trees, constituting part of the plant family Proteaceae. The species Opisthiolepis heterophylla most commonly has the names of blush silky oak, pink silky oak, brown silky oak and drunk rabbit.

<i>Placospermum</i> Genus of trees

Placospermum is a genus of a single species of large trees, constituting part of the plant family Proteaceae. The species Placospermum coriaceum is endemic to the rainforests of the wet tropics region of northeastern Queensland, Australia. Common names include rose silky oak and plate-seeded oak.

Sphalmium is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the protea family. The only species, Sphalmium racemosum, is a large forest tree. Common names include satin silky oak, mystery oak, Mt Lewis oak, poorman's fishtail oak and buff silky oak.

<i>Carnarvonia araliifolia</i> Species of plant in the family Proteaceae

Carnarvonia araliifolia, commonly known as the red oak, red silky oak, Caledonian oak or elephant's foot, is the sole species in the monotypic genus Carnarvonia, a member of the Proteaceae plant family. It is endemic to the rainforests of northeastern Queensland.

Nothorites is a genus of a sole described species of trees, constituting part of the plant family Proteaceae. The species Nothorites megacarpus grows naturally only in restricted mountain regions (endemic) of the wet tropics rain forests of north-eastern Queensland, Australia.

References

  1. "Neorites". Flora of Australia Online. Department of the Environment and Heritage, Australian Government.
  2. 1 2 3 "Neorites kevediana". Flora of Australia Online. Department of the Environment and Heritage, Australian Government.
  3. 1 2 F.A. Zich; B.P.M Hyland; T. Whiffen; R.A. Kerrigan (2020). "Neorites kevedianus". Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants, Edition 8. Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). Retrieved 15 March 2021.
  4. Wrigley, John; Fagg, Murray (1991). Banksias, Waratahs and Grevilleas. Sydney: Angus & Robertson. pp. 463–64. ISBN   0-207-17277-3.
  5. Weston, Peter H.; Barker, Nigel P. (2006). "A new suprageneric classification of the Proteaceae, with an annotated checklist of genera" (PDF). Telopea. 11 (3): 314–344. doi: 10.7751/telopea20065733 .
  6. Sauquet, Herve; Weston, Peter H.; Anderson, Cajsa Lisa; Barker, Nigel P.; Cantrill, David J.; Mast, Austin R.; Savolainen, Vincent (2009). "Contrasted patterns of hyperdiversification in Mediterranean hotspots". PNAS. 106 (1): 221–25. Bibcode:2009PNAS..106..221S. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0805607106 . PMC   2629191 . PMID   19116275.
  7. Hill, Robert S. (1994). History of the Australian Vegetation: Cretaceous to Recent. Cambridge University Press. p. 269. ISBN   0-521-40197-6.