''Duguetia tobagensis'' is a small tree in the plant family
Annonaceae which 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
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...
. The species is only known from
Tobago
Tobago () is an List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, island and Regions and municipalities of Trinidad and Tobago, ward within the Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located northeast of the larger island of Trini ...
.
Description
''Dugetia tobagensis'' is a small tree, the height of which is unknown.
[ The leaves are long and wide. Flowers are borne among the leaves on ]inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...
s with 2 to 4 flowers. The petals are cream-coloured, long and wide. The fruit of the species has never been collected.[
]
Taxonomy
The species was first described as ''Alcmene tobagensis'' by German botanist Ignatz Urban in 1921. Urban's description was based on a collection made by Walter Elias Broadway in Tobago in 1912. It was transferred to the genus ''Duguetia
''Duguetia'' is a genus of trees and shrubs in the plant family Annonaceae with approximately 90 species in central and South America, and four species in west Africa.
Species
*'' Duguetia aberrans'' Maas
*'' Duguetia adiscandra'' Jans.-Ja ...
'' by Robert Elias Fries
(Klas) Robert Elias Fries (11 July 1876, Uppsala – 29 January 1966, Stockholm), the youngest son of Theodor Magnus Fries (1832–1913) and grandson of Elias Magnus Fries(1794–1878)
and an expert on mushrooms. A Swedish botanist who was a mem ...
in 1934.[
''Duguetia tobagensis'' is very similar to '' D. pycnastera''. In their 2001 monograph on the genus ''Duguetia'' Paul Maas and colleagues expressed doubts as to whether the two plants were actually different species, but preferred to keep the two species separate, at least until collections could be made of the fruit of ''D. tobagensis''.][
]
Distribution
''Duguetia tobagensis'' is known from only four collections, all from Tobago.Kew
Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is a ...
botanist Noel Yvri Sandwith in 1937.[ A fourth collection was made in 2000 in the Main Ridge Forest Reserve in Tobago.][
]
Conservation status
Although ''Duguetia tobagensis'' is not listed in the IUCN Red List
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...
, the authors of a 2008 assessment of the endemic plant species of Trinidad and Tobago considered it a vulnerable species
A vulnerable species is a species which has been Conservation status, categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as being threatened species, threatened with extinction unless the circumstances that are threatened species, ...
, as it is known from fewer than five localities.[
]
See also
* Endemic flora of Trinidad and Tobago
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5312586
Annonaceae
Endemic flora of Trinidad and Tobago
Vulnerable plants
Plants described in 1921