''Freycinetia marginata'', commonly known as giant climbing pandan, is a climbing plant in the family

Pandanaceae Pandanaceae is a family of flowering plants native to the tropics and subtropics of the Old World, from West Africa through the Pacific. It contains 982 known species in five genera, of which the type genus, ''Pandanus'', is the most important, wi ...

. It is native to New Guinea and Queensland, Australia.

Description

''Freycinetia marginata'' is an evergreen root climber with a stem diameter of up to , which is held tightly to its support substrate by numerous adventitious roots. The leaves have fine longitudinal veins and are green with a purplish hue. They are long and strap like, measuring up to long by wide, and the margins (edges) may have small spines or teeth. The leaf bases are expanded laterally to form

ligule A ligule (from "strap", variant of ''lingula'', from ''lingua'' "tongue") is a thin outgrowth at the junction of leaf and leafstalk of many grasses (Poaceae) and sedges. A ligule is also a strap-shaped extension of the corolla, such as that of a ...

s, that is, thin membranous extensions of the leaf blade which overlap with neighbouring ligules, creating traps for water and biotic debris.

Taxonomy

This species was described by the German-Dutch botanist Carl Ludwig Blume, who spent much time working on the flora of the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...

(now Indonesia). His description was based on material provided by the Dutch collector

Alexander Zippelius Alexander Zippelius (1797, Würzburg – 31 December 1828, Kupang) was a Dutch horticulturalist and botanical collector in the East Indies. From 1823 he worked as an assistant curator in the botanical gardens at Buitenzorg, and in 1827 he joined t ...

, and was published in his book ''Rumphia'' in 1837.

Distribution and habitat

The giant climbing pandan grows in

rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...

at altitudes from sea level to around , often in gullies near rivers and streams. The range extends from Queensland, Australia, to New Guinea. In Australia it is found in two disjunct populations – one in the vicinity of Lockhart River in northern Cape York and the other in the valleys of the

Daintree River The Daintree River is a river that rises in the Daintree Rainforest near Cape Tribulation in Far North Queensland, Australia. The river is located about northwest of Cairns in the UNESCO World Heritagelisted Wet Tropics of Queensland. The area ...

and its tributaries.

Conservation

This species is listed by the Queensland Department of Environment and Science as

vulnerable Vulnerable may refer to: General * Vulnerability * Vulnerability (computing) * Vulnerable adult * Vulnerable species Music Albums * ''Vulnerable'' (Marvin Gaye album), 1997 * ''Vulnerable'' (Tricky album), 2003 * ''Vulnerable'' (The Used album) ...

. , it has not been assessed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Gallery

File:Freycinetia-marginata-ALA-2.jpg, File:Freycinetia-marginata-ALA-4.jpg, File:Freycinetia marginata 25873336.jpg,

References

External links

* *
View a map
of historical sightings of this species at the Australasian Virtual Herbarium
View observations
of this species on iNaturalist
View images
of this species on Flickriver {{Taxonbar , from=Q15575073 marginata Flora of Queensland Taxa named by Carl Ludwig Blume Plants described in 1837 Flora of New Guinea