''Pseudolmedia hirtula'' is a species of

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclu ...

in the family

Moraceae The Moraceae — often called the mulberry family or fig family — are a family of flowering plants comprising about 38 genera and over 1100 species. Most are widespread in tropical and subtropical regions, less so in temperate climates; however ...

also known as the fig tree family.

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 Brazil's Atlantic rain forest, it is threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

, caused by humans using

slash and burn Slash-and-burn agriculture is a farming method that involves the cutting and burning of plants in a forest or woodland to create a field called a swidden. The method begins by cutting down the trees and woody plants in an area. The downed veget ...

methods to make room for more

cropland Agricultural land is typically land ''devoted to'' agriculture, the systematic and controlled use of other forms of lifeparticularly the rearing of livestock and production of cropsto produce food for humans. It is generally synonymous with bot ...

and grazing pastures. It is listed as an endangered species on the

IUCN red list The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

Description

''Pseudolmedia hirtula'' is a flowering monoecious species so it has both male and female flowers that bloom. The male flowers are disk like in shape and have triangular, oblong, or spear shaped bract, which are leaves that have formed around the outside of a flower to help protect it. The female flowers will have triangular to oval shaped bract. Fruit from the tree is ellipsoid to oblong in shape. The leaves are oblong to spear shaped that have a tip that tapers to a point, and an acute base, they have pilose hairs, meaning that they will fall off as the leaf ages.

Distribution

''Pseudolmedia hirtula'' is limited to a small part of the Atlantic forest. It is found mainly in

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...

and Paraná, two states in the southern part of

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Conservation

Increasing fragmentation of the forests from human actions have reduced the available habitat for ''Pseudolmedia hirtula.'' Conservation efforts are being made by non-government organizations to help protect the unique

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...

. Their main strategy for conservation is to create

wildlife corridor A wildlife corridor, habitat corridor, or green corridor is an area of habitat connecting wildlife populations separated by human activities or structures (such as roads, development, or logging). This allows an exchange of individuals between ...

s to combat the fragmentation, allowing wildlife to cross between the fragments of forest, promoting

seed dispersal In Spermatophyte plants, seed dispersal is the movement, spread or transport of seeds away from the parent plant. Plants have limited mobility and rely upon a variety of dispersal vectors to transport their seeds, including both abiotic vectors ...

and gene flow.

References

External links

Pseudolmedia hirtula
on Missouri Botanical Garden {{Taxonbar, from=Q5477152 hirtula Flora of Brazil Endangered plants Taxonomy articles created by Polbot