''Ruizia parviflora'' is a very rare shrub from the family
Malvaceae. It is endemic to
Mauritius.
[
The species was first described as ''Trochetia parviflora'' in 1877. It was renamed in 2020 when genus ''Trochetia'' was subsumed into genus '']Ruizia
''Ruizia'' is a monotypic genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Malvaceae, containing the single species ''Ruizia cordata''. Its native range is Réunion."''Ruizia'' Can." Plants of the World Online, Kew Science. Accessed 19 August 202 ...
''.[
]
Description
''Ruizia parviflora'' is a much-branched low shrub which can reach a height up to four metres. The bark has a lepidote brown pubescence which is much thinner than in '' Ruizia uniflora'' and '' Ruizia triflora''. On the branches fruits are placed in a group of three. The oblong and entire leaves have a length between 2.5 and 3.8 centimetres. The leaf base is rather rounded. The upperside of the leaf is obtused and scabrous, the underside is thinly scurfy.
Status
In the past ''Ruizia parviflora'' was known from the forest at Montagne-Ory. After botanist Philip Burnard Ayres
Philip Burnard Ayres (1813–1863) was a British physician, botanist and plant collecting, collector. He was born at Thame in Oxfordshire on 12 December 1813. He initially began to collect plants in his native United Kingdom and also in Franc ...
collected the last known specimens in 1863 it was long regarded as lost until 76 individuals were rediscovered in April 2001 by the Mauritian botanists Vincent Florens and Jean-Claude Sevathian, from the Mauritius Herbarium, on a rocky slope of the Corps de Garde six kilometres apart from the type locality. It was assumed that this species has reduced its original range due to competition with invasive alien plants and seed predation by invasive monkeys and rats. Today the biggest threats are wildfire and landslides.
References
*J.G. Baker: ''Flora of Mauritius and the Seychelles: A Description of the Flowering Plants''. Asian Educational Services, 1999.
External links
Mauritius Post Ltd. First Day Cover.
(engl.)
Herbarium specimen Royal Botanic Garden Kew
Dombeyoideae
Endemic flora of Mauritius
Taxa named by John Gilbert Baker
Taxa named by Wenceslas Bojer
Plants described in 1877
{{Malvaceae-stub