''Actinodaphne lawsonii'' is a species of
plant
Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...
in the family
Lauraceae
Lauraceae, or the laurels, is a plant family that includes the true laurel and its closest relatives. This family comprises about 2850 known species in about 45 genera worldwide (Christenhusz & Byng 2016 ). They are dicotyledons, and occur ma ...
. It is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
to the
Western Ghats of southern
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. 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 ...
.
Description
''Actinodaphne lawsonii'' is small tree, growing up to 10 m tall.
[
]
Range and habitat
''Actinodaphne lawsonii'' is known from about six scattered locations in the Western Ghats, within the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve in Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu states. It has an estimated extent of occurrence
Extent may refer to:
Computing
* Extent (file systems), a contiguous region of computer storage medium reserved for a file
* Extent File System, a discontinued file system implementation named after the contiguous region
* Extent, a chunk of st ...
(EOO) of 8,173 km2 and an estimated area of occupancy
Area is the quantity that expresses the extent of a region on the plane or on a curved surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape or planar lamina, while '' surface area'' refers to the area of an open s ...
(AOO) of 28 km2. The area of occupancy is estimated from collections only, and may be an under-estimate.[
It grows in montane evergreen rain forest between 1,500 and 2,100 metres elevation.][
]
Conservation
Much of the species' range is within protected areas. It is threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation from forest clearance for agriculture.[
]
See also
* Rare, endangered and threatened plants of Kerala
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q4676947
lawsonii
Flora of Karnataka
Flora of Kerala
Flora of Tamil Nadu
Vulnerable flora of Asia
Endemic flora of the Western Ghats
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot