''Croton hancei'' Benth., the Hong Kong croton, is a shrub or small tree, a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of '' Croton'' 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 ...

Tsing Yi Island Tsing Yi, sometimes referred to as Tsing Yi Island, is an island in the urban area of Hong Kong, to the northwest of Hong Kong Island and south of Tsuen Wan. With an area of , the island has extended drastically by reclamation along almost all ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

. In Hong Kong, it is listed in the book ''Rare and precious Plants of Hong Kong''.Hu, Qi-ming, Nian-he Xia, De-lin Wu, Fu-wu Xing, P.C.C. Lai & K. L. Yip. 2003. ''Rare and Precious Plants of Hong Kong''. Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, Hong Kong. 234 pages

/ref> ''Croton hancei'' was discovered by Henry Fletcher Hance, H. F. Hance on

Hong Kong Island Hong Kong Island is an Islands and peninsulas of Hong Kong, island in the southern part of Hong Kong. Known colloquially and on road signs simply as Hong Kong, the island has a population of 1,289,500 and its population density is 16,390/km ...

in the 1850s and published by

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

George Bentham George Bentham (22 September 1800 – 10 September 1884) was an English botanist, described by the weed botanist Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century". Born into a distinguished family, he initially studi ...

as a new species in ''Flora Hongkongensis'' in 1861. The species was not observed again until 21 February 1997, when staff of the Hong Kong Herbarium of the

Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (; formerly the Agriculture and Fisheries Department () before 2000, of the Hong Kong Government is responsible for agriculture and fisheries in Hong Kong, conservation projects and issu ...

found an "unknown" species on a steep slope woodland under the highest peak,

Tsing Yi Peak Tsing Yi Peak (; formerly spelled Tsing I Peak), also known as Sam Chi Heung (; ), is a hill with three peaks occupying the southern half of the Tsing Yi Island, Hong Kong. The hill is situated on the western half of Victoria Harbour. Its peaks ...

, on

. After confirmation by experts from the South China Institute of Botany, the Hong Kong Croton was re-discovered after a gap of over a century. The woodland measuring is considered to be a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

(SSSI) for the protection of the endemic Hong Kong croton.

Description

''Croton hancei'' is a

monoecious Monoecy (; adj. monoecious ) is a sexual system in seed plants where separate male and female cones or flowers are present on the same plant. It is a monomorphic sexual system alongside gynomonoecy, andromonoecy and trimonoecy. Monoecy is conne ...

shrub or treelet, ca. 5 m tall; the branches

glabrous Glabrousness (from the Latin '' glaber'' meaning "bald", "hairless", "shaved", "smooth") is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of ...

, the oblong-lanceolate leaves are clustered at the stem apex on petioles 2–5 mm long, the leaf blade 8–18 × 2–5 cm, papery in texture, with both surfaces glabrous; the base is attenuate to obtuse, the margins entire or serrulate, and the apex

acuminate The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regular o ...

. The

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 are terminal, ca. 3 cm, the bracts small. The male flowers are usually many per bract, the bud globose, ca. 2 mm in diameter, the petals narrow and small. The female flowers are usually solitary, at the base of the inflorescence. Flowering is Jun–Aug.Wu Zhengyi, Peter H Raven and Hong Deyuan in Wu, Z. & Raven, P. (eds) ''Flora of China'', Vol. 11. Oxalidaceae through Aceraceae Science Press, Beijing, and Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis, USA.
online at www.efloras.org
/ref>

References

External links

* * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q310498 hancei Flora of Hong Kong Garden plants of Asia Tsing Yi Endemic flora of China

Description

See also

References

External links