''Negria'' is a plant
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...
in the family
Gesneriaceae
Gesneriaceae, the gesneriad family, is a family of flowering plants consisting of about 152 genera and ca. 3,540 species in the tropics and subtropics of the Old World (almost all Didymocarpoideae) and the New World (most Gesnerioideae), wi ...
. Its only species is ''Negria rhabdothamnoides'', commonly known as the pumpkin tree. It is related to ''
Fieldia'' (syn. ''Lenbrassia'') and ''
Depanthus''.
Description
The pumpkin tree grows to about 8 m in height. It has pale, corky bark and soft, brittle wood. The ovate to broadly elliptic leaves are 70–200 mm long and 45–100 mm wide; they have glossy upper surfaces and are pale and sparsely haired beneath.
The flowers are large and orange with small red dots, appearing over summer from October to April. The fruit is a black, beaked capsule 15 mm long which holds numerous tiny, wind-dispersed seeds.
Distribution and habitat
The species 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 else ...
to
Australia's
subtropical Lord Howe Island
Lord Howe Island (; formerly Lord Howe's Island) is an irregularly crescent-shaped volcanic remnant in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, part of the Australian state of New South Wales. It lies directly east of mainland P ...
in the
Tasman Sea
The Tasman Sea ( Māori: ''Te Tai-o-Rēhua'', ) is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer ...
. The trees are found in the moist mountain forest of Lord Howe from about 500 m above sea level to the highest peaks at nearly 900 m.
See also
* ''
Rhabdothamnus''; this species has originally labelled in F. Mueller's collections as ''Rhabdothamnus negriana'' F.Muell., a name which he did not publish, but listed as a synonym.
References
Gesnerioideae
Monotypic Lamiales genera
Endemic flora of Lord Howe Island
Gesneriaceae genera
Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller
{{Gesneriaceae-stub