''Ruprechtia salicifolia'' (native name ''viraró'') is a timber tree native to South America. Its wood withstands decay and is good for making springboards and other articles.

Description

A thicket-forming shrub or

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 ...

tree native to South America, it is a

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

phanerogamous or seed producing plant in the

Polygonaceae The Polygonaceae are a family of flowering plants known informally as the knotweed family or smartweed—buckwheat family in the United States. The name is based on the genus ''Polygonum'', and was first used by Antoine Laurent de Jussieu in 1789 ...

family. It grows to a height of about 4–6 m (exceptionally, 10 m). It has a somewhat tortuous trunk with visible

lenticel A lenticel is a porous tissue consisting of cells with large intercellular spaces in the periderm of the secondarily thickened organs and the bark of woody stems and roots of dicotyledonous flowering plants. It functions as a pore, providing a ...

s and is highly branched. Its foliage is

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

, with simple, alternating,

lanceolate 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 ...

9–16 cm long leaves and a shiny upper surface. It has small

paniculate A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a panicle are of ...

male flowers and racemoid female flowers. It begins to flower in spring. Its fruit is a chestnut-coloured, splined rhomboid

achene An achene (; ), also sometimes called akene and occasionally achenium or achenocarp, is a type of simple dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. Achenes are monocarpellate (formed from one carpel) and indehiscent (they do not ope ...

. It fruits in summer — with a notable presence that covers the treetop — and ripens in autumn. A detailed, open access description by Pendry is available online. Pendry says ''salicifolia'' is unmistakable in the ''Ruprechtia'' genus "because of its long, narrowly ovate leaves, which have the highest length:width ratio".

Synonyms

Kew Plants of the World Online accepts these

homotypic synonym The Botanical and Zoological Codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. * In nomenclature, botanical nomenclature, a synonym is a Binomial nomenclature, scientific name that applies to a taxon that (now) goes by a different ...

s: * ''Magonia salicifolia'' * ''Triplans salicifolia''.

Common names

''R. salicifolia'' is known locally as ''viraró'' or ''iviraró''. The former name is also applied to the similar species ''R. laxiflora''. In Brazil both are known as ''marmeleiro-do-mato'' (bush quince).

Habitat

It thrives on the banks of rivers and streams. One source says it is native to the banks of the

Uruguay River The Uruguay River ( es, Río Uruguay, ; pt, Rio Uruguai, ) is a major river in South America. It flows from north to south and forms parts of the boundaries of Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay, separating some of the Argentine provinces of La M ...

and its tributaries.

Distribution

Northeast Argentina, Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul), Uruguay.

Use

It furnishes an excellent hard timber (relative density 0.62-0.70) that resists decay and is

siliceous Silicon dioxide, also known as silica, is an oxide of silicon with the chemical formula , most commonly found in nature as quartz and in various living organisms. In many parts of the world, silica is the major constituent of sand. Silica is one ...

(thus it blunts edged tools, but withstands mollusc and crustacean attack). It is used in coachwork, boatbuilding, bearings, tools, beams, springboards,

goal post In sport, a goal may refer to either an instance of scoring, or to the physical structure or area where an attacking team must send the ball or puck in order to score points. The structure of a goal varies from sport to sport, and one is plac ...

shoe trees A shoe tree is a device approximating the shape of a foot that is placed inside a shoe to preserve its shape, stop it from developing creases, and thereby extend the life of the shoe. Perhaps more important than maintaining the shape, shoe trees ...

, fine folded furniture,

cabinet making A cabinet is a case or cupboard with shelves and/or drawers for storing or displaying items. Some cabinets are stand alone while others are built in to a wall or are attached to it like a medicine cabinet. Cabinets are typically made of wood (s ...

, walking sticks, tobacco pipes, carvings, kitchen mortars, and other woodwork. It is used for making plywood. Ziliani attributes the mature wood's hardness and resistance to decay in aquatic environments (notably in the presence of the naval shipworm) to its silica content, a feature found in timbers with similar properties. Because of its affinity for river bank thickets it has been suggested for planting for erosion defence.

References

Sources

* * * * * *

Acknowledgement

The first edition of this article was a translation of its counterpart in Spanish Wikipedia.

External links

Tesauro de Plantas Medicinales: ''Ruprechtia salicifolia''

(Museo y jardín botánico Prof. Atilio Lombardo, montevideo.gub.uy) {{Taxonbar, from=Q5402552 Polygonaceae Trees of Argentina Trees of Brazil Trees of Uruguay