''Poikilospermum'' is a genus of shrubs or tall woody climbers, consisting of at least 33 accepted species. The plants are found from India and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

( Yunnan), the Sino-Himalayan region to

Sulawesi Sulawesi (), also known as Celebes (), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sulu Ar ...

and Jawa in Indonesia. Some of the plants are used by people. Common names in the genus include the Chinese () and ( or ),Flora Of China: ''Poikilospermum'', eFloras (2008), published on the Internet http://www.efloras.org ccessed 18 September 2012 Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA, http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=126288 and the Khmer .Dy Phon Pauline, 2000, ''Plants Used In Cambodia'', printed by Imprimerie Olympic, Phnom Penh

Classification

The classification of the genus was dynamic and the in past was linked to the status of the family Cecropiaceae. At present, consensus places it in the family Urticaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 12, July 2012 nd more or less continuously updated since http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/research/APweb/, accessed 18 September 2012 One recent phylogenetic study placed it in a

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...

with '' Urtica'', though two slightly older studies placed it as a sister clade to the Cecropieae (the former Cecropiaceae ''s. str.'') and Urticaeae (Urticaceae ''s. antiq.''). Older, nonphylogenetic, work placed the genus in Cecropiaceae, a family regarded as intermediate between Urticeae and Moraceae

Taxonomic history

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 ...

(1797-1828) is given authorship of the genus, publishing in ''Annales Musei Botanici Lugduno-Batavi'' ( Amsterdam), 1: 203, in 1864. His work superseded that of

Friedrich Anton Wilhelm Miquel Friedrich Anton Wilhelm Miquel (24 October 1811 – 23 January 1871) was a Dutch botanist, whose main focus of study was on the flora of the Dutch East Indies. Early life Miquel was born in Neuenhaus and studied medicine at the University of Groni ...

(1811-1871). In 1978, Berg placed it in Cecropiaceae. Most recent work has been by Datwyler & Weiblen (2004), Zerega et al. (2005), and Hadiah et al. (2008) place the genus in Urticaceae.

Description

Members of ''Poikilospermum'' are shrubs or tall woody climbers (also known as lianas). The petiolate leaves are alternate; their

stipules In botany, a stipule is an outgrowth typically borne on both sides (sometimes on just one side) of the base of a leafstalk (the petiole). Stipules are considered part of the anatomy of the leaf of a typical flowering plant, although in many speci ...

are often caducous, intrapetiolar, connate, and leathery; their veins are often prominently pinnate; cystoliths occur adaxially in circular groups, abaxially along veins, either punctiform or linear. The inflorescences are solitary and axillary dichotomously branched cymes, they are unisexual (the plants are

dioecious Dioecy (; ; adj. dioecious , ) is a characteristic of a species, meaning that it has distinct individual organisms (unisexual) that produce male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproductio ...

). The glomerules are capitate and either on swollen peduncular receptacles (in ''P''. subgen. ''Ligulistigma'', continental Asia group), in agglomerations, or are free (in ''P''. subgen. ''Poikilospermum'', E Malaysia group). The male flowers are with 2-4 perianth lobes, free or slightly connate; there are two to four stamens, the filaments are straight (in ''P''. subgen. ''Ligulistigma'') or inflexed; a rudimentary

ovary The ovary is an organ in the female reproductive system that produces an ovum. When released, this travels down the fallopian tube into the uterus, where it may become fertilized by a sperm. There is an ovary () found on each side of the body. ...

is present. The female flowers have four perianth lobes, and are clavate-tubular and decussate-imbricate. The ovary in this genus is enclosed, with a short style, a capitate or ligulate (in ''P''. subgen. ''Ligulistigma'') stigma; the ovule is orthotropous. The seeds have little or no

endosperm The endosperm is a tissue produced inside the seeds of most of the flowering plants following double fertilization. It is triploid (meaning three chromosome sets per nucleus) in most species, which may be auxin-driven. It surrounds the embryo and ...

. The cotyledons are ovate.

Distribution and habitat

Plants of the genus occur naturally from India across to Southeast Asia, China and Indonesia. Countries and regions in which plants of the genus grow include: Indonesia ( Maluku, Sulawesi,

Kalimantan Kalimantan () is the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo. It constitutes 73% of the island's area. The non-Indonesian parts of Borneo are Brunei and East Malaysia. In Indonesia, "Kalimantan" refers to the whole island of Borneo. In 2019, ...

, Jawa, Sumatera); Philippines; Malaysia ( Sabah, Sarawak, Peninsular Malaysia); Thailand; Cambodia; Vietnam; Zhōngguó/China (South-central);

Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...

; Myanmar; India (including

Nicobar Islands The Nicobar Islands are an archipelagic island chain in the eastern Indian Ocean. They are located in Southeast Asia, northwest of Aceh on Sumatra, and separated from Thailand to the east by the Andaman Sea. Located southeast of the Indian s ...

Andaman Islands The Andaman Islands () are an archipelago in the northeastern Indian Ocean about southwest off the coasts of Myanmar's Ayeyarwady Region. Together with the Nicobar Islands to their south, the Andamans serve as a maritime boundary between th ...

, Assam); Bangladesh; Tibet; East Himalaya. The genus has also been introduced to Jamaica. In China there are 3 species. Species often have high moisture requirement, occurring in Monsoon forests and rain forests, often near streams or other we places, at altitudes ranging from 500m to 1800m. In Cambodia ''P. suaveolens'' grows in the undergrowth of dense forests.

Human use

One species is used to produce ties (as in to tie things together).

Species

These species are accepted, as of February 2021: *''

Poikilospermum acuminatum ''Poikilospermum'' is a genus of shrubs or tall woody climbers, consisting of at least 33 accepted species. The plants are found from India and China (Yunnan), the Sino-Himalayan region to Sulawesi and Java, Jawa in Indonesia. Some of the plants ...

'' *'' Poikilospermum amboinense'' *'' Poikilospermum amethystinum'' *'' Poikilospermum amoenum'' *'' Poikilospermum annamense'' *'' Poikilospermum azureum'' *'' Poikilospermum borneense'' *'' Poikilospermum concolor'' *'' Poikilospermum cordifolium'' *'' Poikilospermum diffusum'' *'' Poikilospermum dubium'' *''

Poikilospermum erectum ''Poikilospermum'' is a genus of shrubs or tall woody climbers, consisting of at least 33 accepted species. The plants are found from India and China (Yunnan), the Sino-Himalayan region to Sulawesi and Jawa in Indonesia. Some of the plants are u ...

'' *'' Poikilospermum forbesii'' *'' Poikilospermum gjellerupii'' *''

Poikilospermum grandifolium ''Poikilospermum'' is a genus of shrubs or tall woody climbers, consisting of at least 33 accepted species. The plants are found from India and China (Yunnan), the Sino-Himalayan region to Sulawesi and Jawa in Indonesia. Some of the plants are u ...

'' *''

Poikilospermum hirsutum ''Poikilospermum'' is a genus of shrubs or tall woody climbers, consisting of at least 33 accepted species. The plants are found from India and China (Yunnan), the Sino-Himalayan region to Sulawesi and Java, Jawa in Indonesia. Some of the plants ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q9061329 Urticaceae Urticaceae genera Dioecious plants Taxa named by Friedrich Anton Wilhelm Miquel