Hedycarya is a genus of about 16 species of flowering plants in the family Monimiaceae[2] native to eastern Australia, New Zealand, and some Pacific Islands.[1] Plants in the genus Hedycarya are shrubs, or small to medium trees with sometimes toothed leaves. The male and female flowers cup-shaped and are borne on separate plants. Male flowers usually have 8 tepals and many stamens and female flowers are have 6 to 12 tepals with many carpels. The fruit is a cluster of drupes.

Hedycarya
Hedycarya arborea
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Magnoliids
Order: Laurales
Family: Monimiaceae
Genus: Hedycarya
J.R.Forst. & G.Forst.[1]
Species

16; see text

Synonyms[1]
  • Carnegiea Perkins (1911), nom. illeg.
  • Carnegieodoxa Perkins (1914)
  • Monimiopsis Vieill. ex Perkins (1911)

Description

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Plants in the genus Hedycarya are shrubs, or small to medium trees with male and female flowers on separate plants. Its leaves are papery to slightly leathery, sometimes regularly and coarsely toothed. The flowers are borne in more or less cup-shaped, raceme-like cymes or panicles in leaf axils or on the ends of branches, with up to 20 flowers. Male flowers usually have many stamens, the filaments very short to absent and female flowers have many carpels with a short, thick stigma and sometimes staminodes. The fruit is a loose to tight cluster of drupes.[3][4][5]

Taxonomy

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The genus was Hedycarya was first formerly described in 1776 by botanists Johann and Georg Forster in Characteres Generum Plantarum.[6][7]

The limit of the genus may require change as it appears paraphyletic in phylogenetic analyses, with the genera Kibaropsis and Levieria nested in it.[8]

Species

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The names of 16 species of Hedycara are accepted by the Plants of the World Online as at May 2024.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Hedycarya J.R.Forst. & G.Forst. Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
  2. ^ Kubitzki, Klaus; Rohwer, Jens G; Bittrich, Volker, eds. (1993). Flowering Plants · Dicotyledons. doi:10.1007/978-3-662-02899-5. ISBN 978-3-642-08141-5. S2CID 38606188.
  3. ^ Whiffin, Trevor P.; Foreman, Donald B. "Hedycarya". Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water: Canberra. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  4. ^ Harden, Gwen J. "Genus Hedycarya". Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  5. ^ Foreman, Donald B. "Hedycarya". Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  6. ^ "Hedycarya". Australian Plant Name Index. Retrieved 5 May 2024.
  7. ^ Forster, Johann R.; Forster, Georg (1776). Characteres Generum Plantarum (2 ed.). London. p. 127. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  8. ^ Renner, Susanne S.; Strijk, Joeri S.; Strasberg, Dominique; Thébaud, Christophe (2010). "Biogeography of the Monimiaceae (Laurales): a role for East Gondwana and long-distance dispersal, but not West Gondwana". Journal of Biogeography. 37 (7): 1227–1238. Bibcode:2010JBiog..37.1227R. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2699.2010.02319.x. Retrieved 28 May 2024.