''Spachea perforata'' is a species of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s in the order

Malpighiales The Malpighiales comprise one of the largest orders of flowering plants, containing about 36 families and more than species, about 7.8% of the eudicots. The order is very diverse, containing plants as different as the willow, violet, poinsett ...

. It is the

national flower In a number of countries, plants have been chosen as symbols to represent specific geographic areas. Some countries have a country-wide floral emblem; others in addition have symbols representing subdivisions. Different processes have been used to ...

St. Vincent and the Grenadines Saint Vincent and the Grenadines () is an island country in the Caribbean. It is located in the southeast Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, which lie in the West Indies at the southern end of the eastern border of the Caribbean Sea wh ...

and is commonly known as the Soufrière tree because it can be found on the slopes of La Soufrière volcano on the island of

St. Vincent Saint Vincent may refer to: People Saints * Vincent of Saragossa (died 304), a.k.a. Vincent the Deacon, deacon and martyr * Saint Vincenca, 3rd century Roman martyress, whose relics are in Blato, Croatia * Vincent, Orontius, and Victor (died 305) ...

Description

''Spachea perforata'' branches in an irregular pattern. It has simple lance-shaped leaves that measure roughly long and wide. It has many small pink flowers on each stem, arranged in pendant clusters around long. While most species of Malpighiales have all hermaphroditic flowers, ''Spachea perforata'' does not, like other plants in the genus ''Spachea.'' The species appears to have the physical capabilities to reproduce asexually, but no specimen has ever been seen bearing fruit. However, the plant does prolifically produce new growth from cuttings, allowing new young trees to be grown which are generally healthy.

Taxonomy

History

''Spachea perforata'' was first collected in 1804 by

Alexander Anderson Alexander Anderson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Alexander Anderson (illustrator) (1775–1870), American illustrator * Alexander Anderson (poet) (1845–1909), Scottish poet * Alexander Anderson (cartoonist) (1920–2010), American car ...

, curator of the

Botanic Gardens St. Vincent The St Vincent and the Grenadines Botanic Gardens is located in Kingstown, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Established in 1765, it is the oldest botanic garden in the Western Hemisphere. The magnificent Botanic Gardens are currently one of the ...

, on the slopes of La Soufrière. One of the specimens that he collected is still present in the botanical gardens, with several other younger trees being introduced as well. The species was added to the new genus ''

Spachea ''Spachea'' is a genus in the Malpighiaceae, a family of about 75 genera of flowering plants in the order Malpighiales. ''Spachea'' comprises 6 species of shrubs and trees growing in wet forests. One species (''S. martiana'') occurs in Cuba, 2 s ...

'' in 1840 by

Antoine Laurent de Jussieu Antoine Laurent de Jussieu (; 12 April 1748 – 17 September 1836) was a French botanist, notable as the first to publish a natural classification of flowering plants; much of his system remains in use today. His classification was based on an e ...

with an original

description Description is the pattern of narrative development that aims to make vivid a place, object, character, or group. Description is one of four rhetorical modes (also known as ''modes of discourse''), along with exposition, argumentation, and narr ...

, but lacking citation of the specimen that was described. In 1843, a longer description was published that included a specimen citation, and that description is what most subsequent analysis of the taxonomy of ''S. perforata'' depended on. A distinct lack of specimens and material continued to make analysis of the species difficult, but it was treated as valid in two separate

monograph A monograph is a specialist work of writing (in contrast to reference works) or exhibition on a single subject or an aspect of a subject, often by a single author or artist, and usually on a scholarly subject. In library cataloging, ''monograph ...

s of the family

Malpighiaceae Malpighiaceae is a family of flowering plants in the order Malpighiales. It comprises about 73 genera and 1315 species, all of which are native to the tropics and subtropics. About 80% of the genera and 90% of the species occur in the New World ( ...

Synonymy

In St. Vincent and the Grenadines it is claimed that the Soufrière Tree 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 elsew ...

to the island of St. Vincent; however, general collection on the island has never found a Soufrière Tree in the two centuries since its original finding by Anderson in 1804. In fact, the only known extant specimens come from the trees of the Botanic Gardens St. Vincent. As such, it was proposed as early as 1947 that the few known specimens of ''S. perforata'' are actually the species '' S. elegans'', which has similar characteristics.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q114796315 Malpighiaceae Flora of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines