Flora Of Saint Helena
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Flora Of Saint Helena
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. Endemic and introduced flora The endemic plants of Saint Helena include many notable Cabbage Tree or, "insular arborescent Asteraceae", members of the daisy family which have evolved a shrubby or tree-like habit on islands. Other notable endemics include the closely related St Helena redwood (''Trochetiopsis erythroxylon'') and St Helena dwarf ebony (''Trochetiopsis ebenus''). These are unrelated to the redwood trees of California or to the ebony trees of commerce, being instead in the Mallow family (Malvaceae). Vegetation Today there are three major vegetation zones: the tree-fern thicket of the highest parts of the central ridge; the pastures of middle elevations and the d ...
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Cabbage Trees
Cabbage, comprising several cultivars of ''Brassica oleracea'', is a leafy green, red (purple), or white (pale green) biennial plant grown as an annual vegetable crop for its dense-leaved heads. It is descended from the wild cabbage ( ''B. oleracea'' var. ''oleracea''), and belongs to the "cole crops" or brassicas, meaning it is closely related to broccoli and cauliflower (var. ''botrytis''); Brussels sprouts (var. ''gemmifera''); and Savoy cabbage (var. ''sabauda''). A cabbage generally weighs between . Smooth-leafed, firm-headed green cabbages are the most common, with smooth-leafed purple cabbages and crinkle-leafed savoy cabbages of both colours being rarer. Under conditions of long sunny days, such as those found at high northern latitudes in summer, cabbages can grow quite large. , the heaviest cabbage was . Cabbage heads are generally picked during the first year of the plant's life cycle, but plants intended for seed are allowed to grow a second year and must be k ...
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Monocotyledons
Monocotyledons (), commonly referred to as monocots, (Lilianae ''sensu'' Chase & Reveal) are grass and grass-like flowering plants (angiosperms), the seeds of which typically contain only one embryonic leaf, or cotyledon. They constitute one of the major groups into which the flowering plants have traditionally been divided; the rest of the flowering plants have two cotyledons and are classified as dicotyledons, or dicots. Monocotyledons have almost always been recognized as a group, but with various taxonomic ranks and under several different names. The APG III system of 2009 recognises a clade called "monocots" but does not assign it to a taxonomic rank. The monocotyledons include about 60,000 species, about a quarter of all angiosperms. The largest family in this group (and in the flowering plants as a whole) by number of species are the orchids (family Orchidaceae), with more than 20,000 species. About half as many species belong to the true grasses (Poaceae), which are ec ...
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Euphorbia Heleniana
''Euphorbia heleniana'' or French grass or Saint Helena spurge is a herbaceous plant, a member of the Euphorbiaceae family. Distribution It is an endemic species to Saint Helena. Taxonomy It was named by Albert Thellung Albert Thellung (12 May 1881 – 26 June 1928) was a Swiss botanist. He was a professor at the University of Zürich. The Austrian botanist Otto Stapf named the plant genus ''Thellungia'' of the grass family, Poaceae, after him, and Otto E ... and Otto Stapf, in ''Bull. Misc. Inform. Kew'' 1916: 201 in 1916. References External links heleniana {{Euphorbia-stub ...
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Commidendrum Spurium
''Commidendrum spurium'', the false gumwood, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is found only in Saint Helena. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, rocky areas, and rocky shores. It is threatened by habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby .... References spurium Critically endangered plants Flora of Saint Helena Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Plants described in 1836 {{Astereae-stub ...
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Commidendrum Rugosum
''Commidendrum rugosum'', known as scrubwood, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. Description The plant is endemic to the island of Saint Helena, off the coast of Africa. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, rocky areas, and rocky shores. It is an IUCN Red List Vulnerable species, threatened by habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby .... References rugosum Flora of Saint Helena Vulnerable flora of Africa Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Plants described in 1836 {{Astereae-stub ...
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Commidendrum Rotundifolium
''Commidendrum rotundifolium'', the bastard gumwood, is a species of tree endemic to the island of Saint Helena. It was thought to be extinct, but one last tree was discovered in Horse Pasture in 1982. This tree, long believed to be the last, was destroyed in 1986 by a gale. However seedlings were grown from this tree before it perished. The last of these to survive in cultivation was damaged by gales in 2008 and the survival of the species was in doubt. In December 2009, Lourens Malan, a horticulturist working for the island's conservation department under the Critical Species Recovery Project, discovered a wild tree growing on a cliff. A local team of botanists, conservationists and volunteers commenced an intensive programme of hand pollination and seed collection of the remaining cultivated tree, while protecting it from insects that may cross-pollinate with nearby false gumwoods. Successful fertilisation will occur only if any grains of pollen happen to have mutation ...
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Commidendrum Robustum
''Commidendrum robustum'', the Saint Helena gumwood, is a species of tree endemic to Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha.Cairns-Wicks, R. 2003''Commidendrum robustum''.The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2003. Downloaded on 16 September 2015. Though it is now comparatively rare, it was once one of the most abundant trees of mid-elevations of the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean. A small tree to 7–8 m, it was cut extensively for fuel in the early years of settlement of the island by the English East India Company. It has given its name to certain placenames on the island such as "Gumwoods". It is one of several species in the endemic genus ''Commidendrum ''Commidendrum'' is a genus of trees and shrubs in the family Asteraceae endemic to the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It co ...''. The Commidendrum robustum is closely rel ...
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Chenopodium Helenense
''Chenopodium'' is a genus of numerous species of perennial or annual herbaceous flowering plants known as the goosefoots, which occur almost anywhere in the world. It is placed in the family Amaranthaceae in the APG II system; older classification systems, notably the widely used Cronquist system, separate it and its relatives as Chenopodiaceae, but this leaves the rest of the Amaranthaceae polyphyletic. However, among the Amaranthaceae, the genus ''Chenopodium'' is the namesake member of the subfamily Chenopodioideae. Description The species of ''Chenopodium'' (s.str., description according to Fuentes et al. 2012) are annual or perennial herbs, shrubs or small trees. They generally rely on alkaline soil. They are nonaromatic, but sometimes fetid. The young stems and leaves are often densely covered by vesicular globose hairs, thus looking farinose. Characteristically, these trichomes persist, collapsing later and becoming cup-shaped. The branched stems grow erect, ascendin ...
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Acalypha Rubrinervis
''Acalypha rubrinervis'' (string tree or stringwood) 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 (see List of extinct plants). The genus to which it belongs, ''Acalypha'', is a large one and includes island endemics as well as weeds and ornamentals. ''A. rubrinervis'' was a shrub or thicket growing on the central ridge of St Helena above 600 m elevation. ''Acalypha rubrinervis'' is a shrub or small tree, 1–2 m. Branches with warty leaf-scars. Leaves ovate to broadly triangular-ovate, entire to somewhat wavy-toothed, with 3 veins from the base of the leaf blade 5-7 x 3–5 cm, leaf stalk 2 ...
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Dicotyledons
The dicotyledons, also known as dicots (or, more rarely, dicotyls), are one of the two groups into which all the flowering plants (angiosperms) were formerly divided. The name refers to one of the typical characteristics of the group: namely, that the seed has two embryonic leaves or cotyledons. There are around 200,000 species within this group. The other group of flowering plants were called monocotyledons (or monocots), typically each having one cotyledon. Historically, these two groups formed the two divisions of the flowering plants. Largely from the 1990s onwards, molecular phylogenetic research confirmed what had already been suspected: that dicotyledons are not a group made up of all the descendants of a common ancestor (i.e., they are not a monophyletic group). Rather, a number of lineages, such as the magnoliids and groups now collectively known as the basal angiosperms, diverged earlier than the monocots did; in other words, monocots evolved from within the dic ...
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Eragrostis Saxatilis
''Eragrostis'' is a large and widespread genus of plants in the grass family, found in many countries on all inhabited continents and many islands. ''Eragrostis'' is commonly known as lovegrass or canegrass. The name of the genus is derived from the Greek words ἔρως (''eros''), meaning "love", and ἄγρωστις (''agrostis''), meaning "grass". Lovegrass is commonly used as livestock fodder. The seeds appear to be of high nutritional value for some animals, but they are also very tiny and collecting them for human food is cumbersome and hence uncommon. A notable exception is teff ('' E. tef''), which is used to make traditional breads on the Horn of Africa, such as Ethiopian ''injera'' and Somalian ''laxoox''. It is a crop of commercial importance. '' E. clelandii'' and '' E. tremula'' are recorded as famine foods in Australia and Chad, respectively. Other species, such as '' E. amabilis'', are used as ornamental plants. '' E. cynosuroides'' is used in the '' pūjā'' r ...
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Carex Praealta
''Carex'' is a vast genus of more than 2,000 species of grass-like plants in the family Cyperaceae, commonly known as sedges (or seg, in older books). Other members of the family Cyperaceae are also called sedges, however those of genus ''Carex'' may be called true sedges, and it is the most species-rich genus in the family. The study of ''Carex'' is known as caricology. Description All species of ''Carex'' are perennial, although some species, such as '' C. bebbii'' and '' C. viridula'' can fruit in their first year of growth, and may not survive longer. They typically have rhizomes, stolons or short rootstocks, but some species grow in tufts (caespitose). The culm – the flower-bearing stalk – is unbranched and usually erect. It is usually distinctly triangular in section. The leaves of ''Carex'' comprise a blade, which extends away from the stalk, and a sheath, which encloses part of the stalk. The blade is normally long and flat, but may be folded, inrolled, cha ...
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