Glochidion Wrightii

''Glochidion'' is a genus of flowering plants, of the family Phyllanthaceae, known as cheese trees or buttonwood in Australia, and leafflower trees in the scientific literature. It comprises about 300 species, distributed from Madagascar to the Pacific Islands. ''Glochidion'' species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including ''Aenetus eximia'' and ''Endoclita damor''. The Nicobarese people have attested to the medicinal properties found in ''G. calocarpum'', saying that its bark and seed are most effective in curing abdominal disorders associated with amoebiasis.

''Glochidion'' are of note in the fields of pollination biology and coevolution because they have a specialized mutualism with moths in the genus ''Epicephala'' (leafflower moths), in which the moths actively pollinate the flowers—thereby ensuring that the tree may produce viable seeds—but also lay eggs in the flowers' ovaries, where their larvae consume a subset of the developing seeds as nourishment. Other species of ''Epicephala'' are pollinators, and in some cases, non-pollinating seed predators, of certain species of plants in the genera ''Phyllanthus'' and ''Breynia'', both closely related to ''Glochidion''. This relationship is similar to those between figs and fig wasps and yuccas and yucca moths.

Although the genus ''Glochidion'' is native only to the Old World, the East Asian species ''Glochidion puberum'' has become naturalized at several locations in the U.S. state of Alabama.

In a 2006 revision of the Phyllanthaceae, it was recommended that ''Glochidion'' be subsumed in ''Phyllanthus''. New combinations in ''Phyllanthus'' have been published for Madagascar and the Pacific Islands,Wagner WL, Lorence DH. A nomenclator of Pacific oceanic island Phyllanthus (Phyllanthaceae), including Glochidion. PhytoKeys. 2011(4):67-94 but most remain to be published.

Selected species

An incomplete listing:

*''Glochidion apodogynum''
*''Glochidion barronense''
*''Glochidion benthamianum''
*'' Glochidion bourdillonii''
*'' Glochidion calocarpum''
*''Glochidion christophersenii''
*''Glochidion carrickii''
*'' Glochidion comitum''
*'' Glochidion disparipes''
*''Glochidion eriocarpum''
*''Glochidion ferdinandi'' - cheese tree, buttonwood, pencil cedar, water gum, rain tree
:* var. ''ferdinandi''
:* var. ''pubens''
*''Glochidion gardneri''
*'' Glochidion grantii''
*'' Glochidion harveyanum'' - buttonwood, daphne buttonwood
:* var. ''harveyanum''
:* var. ''pubescens''
*''Glochidion hylandii''
*'' Glochidion insulare''
*'' Glochidion johnstonei''
*''Glochidion lanceolarium''
*'' Glochidion lobocarpum''
*''Glochidion longfieldiae''
*''Glochidion manono''
*'' Glochidion marchionicum''
*'' Glochidion moonii''
*'' Glochidion moorei''
*''Glochidion myrtifolium''
*''Glochidion nadeaudii''
*''Glochidion orientalis''
*'' Glochidion papenooense''
*''Glochidion pauciflorum''
*'' Glochidion perakense'' - umbrella cheese tree, buttonwood
:* var. ''supra-axillare''
*'' Glochidion philippicum''
*'' Glochidion pitcairnense''
*'' Glochidion pruinosum''
*''Glochidion puberum''
*''Glochidion pungens''
*'' Glochidion raivavense''
*''Glochidion ramiflorum'' J.R.Forst. & G.Forst.
*''Glochidion rapaense''
*''Glochidion seemannii'' Müll.-Arg.
*'' Glochidion sessiliflorum''
:* var. ''pedicellatum''
:* var. ''sessiliflorum''
:* var. ''stylosum''
*'' Glochidion sisparense''
*''Glochidion stellatum''
*'' Glochidion stylosum''
*''Glochidion sumatranum''
*''Glochidion symingtonii''
*''Glochidion taitense''
*'' Glochidion temehaniense''
*'' Glochidion tomentosum''
*'' Glochidion tooviianum''
*''Glochidion xerocarpum''

References

External links

Youtube video of a ''Glochidion lanceolarium'' flower being pollinated by an ''Epicephala lanceolaria'' moth

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1245856

Phyllanthaceae genera