''Ungeria'' is a

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...

genus 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 belonging to the family

Malvaceae Malvaceae, or the mallows, is a family of flowering plants estimated to contain 244 genera with 4225 known species. Well-known members of economic importance include okra, cotton, cacao and durian. There are also some genera containing familiar ...

. It just contains one species, ''Ungeria floribunda'' Schott & Endl. It is also in the

Helicteroideae Helicteroideae is a subfamily of the family Malvaceae. Some taxonomists place genera in Helicteroideae in distinct families Durionaceae and Helicteraceae,Heywood, V.H., Brummitt, R.K., Culham, A. & Seberg, O. 2007: Flowering Plant Families of t ...

subfamily and Helictereae tribe. Its native range is Norfolk Island (in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

near Australia). It is found in Mount Pitt Nature Reserve (part of

Norfolk Island National Park Norfolk Island National Park is a protected area of located at in the South Pacific Ocean, about off the East coast of Australia. The park’s area includes the Mount Pitt section on the namesake Norfolk Island with an area of / , as well a ...

).Peter Coyne

Description

It is a tree that can grow up to tall. It has leaves which are broadly elliptic or obovate and

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, whic ...

.Australian Government Pub. Service, 1982 The leaf blades are about long and wide. It has deep pink flowers. The flowers each have five deep pink petals long and it thought to be pollinated by birds. The fruits are 5 lobed and star-shapped in cross-section. Moths of ''

Austrocarea iocephala ''Austrocarea iocephala'' is a moth of the family Nolidae. It is found in New South Wales and Norfolk Island. The moths can be found on the tree ''Ungeria, Ungeria floribunda'' on Norfolk Island.J.D. Holloway References External linksAustral ...

'' subspecies ''millsi'' can be found on the tree. It is related (dna wise) to the Durian.

Taxonomy

It has the common name of 'Bastard Oak', (due to the inferior quality of the timber,) was listed as Vulnerable in 2003 on Norfolk Island. 502 plants were counted in 2003. The genus name of ''Ungeria'' is in honour of Franz Unger (1800–1870), an Austrian botanist,

paleontologist Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

and plant physiologist. The Latin specific epithet of ''floribunda'' means "many-flowering", (such as Floribunda). Both the genus and sole species were first described and published in Meletemata Botanica (Melet. Bot.) on page 27 in 1832. The genus is recognized by the

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...

and the Agricultural Research Service, but they do not list any known species.

Culture

On 14 January 2020, an image of ''Ungeria floribunda'' was used on a

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the f ...

for Australia, one of two 'Norfolk Island Early Botanical Art' stamps.

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q9091369, from2=Q17580940 Helicteroideae Monotypic Malvales genera Plants described in 1832 Flora of Norfolk Island