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Alphitonia ponderosa

(Kauila)

Overview

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Vulnerable

Threat status

Interesting Facts

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Common Names

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Common Names in English:

Kauila, Hawai'i Kauilatree

Description

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Family Rhamnaceae

Deciduous or evergreen , often thorny trees , shrubs , woody climbers , or lianas, rarely herbs. Leaves simple , petiolate , alternate or opposite, pinnately veined or 3-5-veined, entire to serrate, sometimes much reduced; stipules small, caducous or persistent , sometimes transformed into spines. Flowers yellowish to greenish, rarely brightly colored , small, bisexual or unisexual , rarely polygamous, (4 or) 5-merous, hypogynous to epigynous , in mostly axillary , sessile or pedunculate cymes, or reduced to few in fascicles. Calyx tube patelliform or hemispherical to tubular , sometimes absent, at rim with calyx, corolla, and stamens; sepals 4 or 5, valvate in bud, triangular, erect or ± recurved during anthesis , adaxially often distinctly keeled , alternate with petals. Petals 4 or 5, rarely absent, usually smaller than sepals, concave or hooded , rarely nearly flat, often shortly clawed. Stamens 4 or 5, antepetalous and often ± enclosed by petals; filaments thin, adnate to bases of petals; anthers minute, versatile or not, 2(or 4) -celled, dehiscing by longitudinal slits, usually introrse . Disk intrastaminal , nectariferous , thin to ± fleshy , entire or lobed , glabrous or rarely pubescent , free from ovary or tightly surrounding it, or adnate to calyx tube. Ovary superior to inferior, (1 or) 2-4-loculed, with 1(or 2) ovules per locule; ovules anatropous , basal and erect; styles simple or ± deeply 3-lobed or 3-cleft. Fruit either an indehiscent, rarely explosively dehiscent , sometimes winged , schizocarpic capsule, or a ± fleshy drupe with 1-4 indehiscent, rarely dehiscent, pyrenes (stones ) . Seeds with thin, oily albumen, sometimes exalbuminous ; embryo large, oily, straight or rarely bent.

About 50 genera and more than 900 species: almost cosmopolitan , mainly in subtropical to tropical areas; 13 genera and 137 species (82 endemic, one introduced ) in China.

Former classifications usually placed Rhamnaceae in the Rhamnales, together with Vitaceae and Leeaceae (Suessenguth in Engler & Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenfam., ed. 2, 20d. 1953), or together with Elaeagnaceae (Thorne, Bot. Rev. 58: 225-348. 1992) . Orders such as Celastrales, Urticales, and Euphorbiales have often been considered as closely related groups. Recent analyses of DNA sequences strongly supported including the family in the Rosales, beside the closest relatives Barbeyaceae and Dirachmaceae (see Angiosperm Phylogeny Group II, Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 141: 399-436. 2003) . Suessenguth (loc. cit. ) grouped the family into five tribes , mainly characterized by fruit characters. Richardson et al. (Kew Bull . 55: 311-340. 2000; Amer. J. Bot. 87: 1309-1324. 2000) revised this tribal classification on the basis of a phylogenetic analysis using rbcL and trnL-F sequences of the plastid genome. Now 11 tribes are recognized, of which four are represented in the Flora area.



The bark , leaves, and fruit of several species of Rhamnus have been used as laxatives , notably R. cathartica and R. frangula. Diverse Old World species of Rhamnus provide yellow and green dyes as well as drugs. Timber of Alphitonia, Colubrina, Hovenia, and Ziziphus species is used for construction, fine furniture, carving, lathework, and musical instruments. Many Ziziphus species yield edible fruit; among them, Z. jujuba (Chinese jujube) and Z. mauritiana (Indian jujube) are cultivated on a commercial scale. Hovenia dulcis is also grown for its edible, fleshy inflorescence stalks . Species of Hovenia, Paliurus, and Rhamnus are cultivated as ornamentals .[1]

Genus Alphitonia

Trees or shrubs , evergreen . Buds and young branches often ± densely brownish pubescent . Leaves alternate, with small, caducous stipules; leaf blade ovate to obovate or elliptic to lanceolate, rarely nearly cordate, papery to leathery, pinnately veined, abaxially usually glabrous , adaxially whitish to rusty pubescent, margin entire. Flowers bisexual , 5-merous, many in di- or trichotomous , axillary or rarely terminal cymes. Calyx tube patelliform to hemispherical; sepals 5, triangular, adaxially keeled. Petals 5, clawed, cucullate . Stamens 5, enfolded by petals. Disk mainly thick, nectariferous . Ovary inferior, immersed in disk, 2- or 3-loculed, with 1 ovule per locule; style short, often divided into 2 to 3 slightly capitate stylar branches, basally often densely whitish to yellowish pubescent or glabrous. Fruits drupaceous , globose or broadly ovoid , at base surrounded by persistent calyx tube; mesocarp thick, initially fleshy , later dry and mealy ; endocarp splitting longitudinally into 2 or 3, hard, leathery, 1-seeded endocarpids. Seeds ± completely enclosed by a membranous, reddish to brownish aril; testa smooth , crustaceous ; embryo straight; endocarp cartilaginous.

About ten species: SE Asia, Australia, Pacific islands; one species in China.[2]

Physical Description

Habit: Tree

Habitat

Ecology: A native Hawaiian tree found in dry to mesic forests on all the main islands, except Niihau and Kahoolawe.[3].

List of Habitats :

Biology

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Reproduction

Duration: Perennial

Taxonomy

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Synonyms

Alphitonia ponderosa var. auwahiensis St. John • Alphitonia ponderosa var. costata St. John • Alphitonia ponderosa var. grandifolia St. John • Alphitonia ponderosa var. kauila St. John • Alphitonia ponderosa var. lanaiensis St. John

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Last scrutiny: 15-Mar-2000

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Alphitonia

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 3 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

A. excelsa (Red-Ash) · A. ponderosa (Kauila) · A. zizyphoides (Ndoi)

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal February 02, 2008:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Yilin Chen & Carsten Schirarend "Rhamnaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 12 Page 115,355. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. "Alphitonia". in Flora of China Vol. 12 Page 115, 166. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  3. Bruegmann, M.M. & Caraway, V. 2003. Alphitonia ponderosa. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 30 January 2012. [back]
Last Revised: 7/15/2012