''Trochetiopsis melanoxylon'', the dwarf ebony or St Helena ebony, of the island of

Saint Helena Saint Helena () is a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote volcanic tropical island west of the coast of south-western Africa, and east of Rio de Janeiro in South America. It is one of three constitu ...

is related to ''

Trochetiopsis ebenus ''Trochetiopsis ebenus'', the dwarf ebony or Saint Helena ebony, is a species of flowering plant that is endemic to the island of Saint Helena in the southern Atlantic Ocean. It is not related to the ebony of commerce (''Diospyros'' spp.), but ...

'' but is now extinct. It differed from ''T. ebenus'' by having much smaller flowers, sepals hairless on their interior surfaces and leaves densely hairy on both surfaces (''T. ebenus'' is densely hairy only on the lower surfaces of the leaves). It was last seen when it was collected by Banks and Solander in 1771 on Cook's first voyage. It may once have covered many of the driest slopes of Saint Helena, but appears to have been one of the first casualties of the introduction of the

domestic goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...

by the Portuguese sailors soon after the discovery of Saint Helena in 1502.

References

* Cronk, Q.C.B. (1995) ''The endemic Flora of St Helena''. Anthony Nelson Ltd, Oswestry. Flora of Saint Helena Extinct plants melanoxylon Plant extinctions since 1500 {{Malvaceae-stub

See also

References