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Lethedon salicifolia

Interesting Facts

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Description

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Family Thymelaeaceae

Shrubs or small trees , rarely herbs, evergreen or deciduous. Bark tough and fibrous . Leaves opposite or alternate, rarely some ternate , estipulate; blade simple , entire, pinnately veined, articulate at base . Plants mostly bisexual , sometimes dioecious. Inflorescences terminal or subterminal , less often axillary , sometimes on brachyblasts , sessile or pedunculate , basically racemose, sometimes capitate, spicate , umbelliform, or fascicled. Flowers usually actinomorphic , bisexual or unisexual (plants then mostly dioecious), bracteate (sometimes bracts forming an involucre) or ebracteate , sessile or pedicellate . Calyx tubular , campanulate , or infundibuliform , usually corollalike, 4- or 5(or 6) -merous, mostly caducous , sometimes circumscissile, or persistent ; lobes imbricate. Petals absent or represented by 4-12 scales , inserted at or near throat of calyx tube (Aquilaria) . Stamens 2 to many, usually as many as calyx lobes and opposite them or twice as many. Hypognous disk usually present at base of ovary, scalelike, annular or cup-shaped, sometimes absent. Ovary superior, 1- or 2-loculed, sessile or shortly stipitate ; ovules solitary in each locule, pendulous, anatropous ; style filiform , caducous, sometimes very short or obscure , terminal or eccentric ; stigma capitate, globose , subglobose, subclavate, or pyramidal , sometimes papilose. Fruit mostly indehiscent, dry or fleshy , sometimes a loculicidal capsule (Aquilaria) . Seeds with or without endosperm, embryo straight.

About 48 genera and ca. 650 species: widely distributed in both hemispheres; nine genera and 115 species (89 endemic) in China.

The phloem contains very strong fibers, which make the bark of many species very suitable for the manufacture of high-quality paper such as that used for bank notes . The stems are extremely supple and difficult to break and are used as a substitute for string. Most species are poisonous and some are important medicinally.[1]

Habitat

Typically found in water with a depth of 0 to -3,672 meters (0 to -12,047 feet).[2]

Biome: Marine .

Taxonomy

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Synonyms

Microsemma Salicifolia

Notes

Publishing author : Aymonin Publication : Bull . Soc. Bot. France 114: 452 1968

Basionym author: (Labill.)

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Lethedon

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 0 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

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 November 25, 2007:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Yinzheng Wang, Michael G. Gilbert, Brian F. Mathew, Christopher Brickell & Lorin I. Nevling "Thymelaeaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 13 Page 213. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. Mean = -459.400 meters (-1,507.218 feet), Standard Deviation = 799.090 based on 91 observations. Ocean depth information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]
Last Revised: 7/22/2012