''Viburnum australe'', known by the

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contrast ...

Mexican arrowwood, is a woody plant in the family

Adoxaceae Adoxaceae, commonly known as moschatel family, is a small family of flowering plants in the order Dipsacales, now consisting of five genera and about 150–200 species. They are characterised by opposite toothed leaves, small five- or, more rare ...

(previously

Caprifoliaceae The Caprifoliaceae or honeysuckle family is a clade of dicotyledonous flowering plants consisting of about 860 species, in 33, to 42 genera, with a nearly cosmopolitan distribution. Centres of diversity are found in eastern North America and ea ...

).Muller, C. H. (1939). Donoghue, M. J., Eriksson, T., Reeves, P. A., & Olmstead, R. G. (2001). Phylogeny and phylogenetic taxonomy of Dipsacales, with special reference to Sinadoxa and Tetradoxa (Adoxaceae). Harvard Papers in Botany, 6(2), 459-480.
accessed 08.14.2013.
Angiosperm Phylogeny Group places Viburnum within Adoxaceae, accessed 08.14.2013. It is found in northeastern Mexico and western Texas.

Description

''Viburnum australe'' grows as a

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 ...

, multi-stemmed

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

, reaching in height.Donoghue, M.J. 1997. Viburnum. A flora of the Chihuahuan Desert region; M.D. Johnston (ed.) privately published.
accessed 08.13.2013. Branches angled, dull, glabrous, pale; branchlets similar, sparsely glandular; leaves opposite, petiolate, the petiole up to long, glandular, hispidulous, stipulate, the stipules persistent, borne on the petiole about above its base, linear, up to long, glandular and hispidulous; blades broadly ovate to suborbicular, the larger long by wide, cordate or subcordate at base, abruptly short-acuminate at apex, conspicuously dentate (the teeth broad, extending to the middle of the blade or below), ciliate, above sparsely but uniformly strigose (the hairs all simple), glabrate with age, beneath glandular, hispidulous on the veins and veinlets, densely bearded in the vein axils; lateral veins 2 to 5, straight, reaching the margin; peduncle up to long, conspicuously glandular, bearing a few stellate hairs, these with numerous spreading branches; bracts at base of inflorescence conspicuous, up to long, broad at middle, narrowed at base, glandular and sparsely pubescent, the hairs both simple and stellate; cyme up to wide and long, twice compound, the primary rays 6 to 8, very densely glandular; bractlets of cyme linear, glandular, sparingly ciliate; calyx tube long, cylindric, densely glandular; calyx lobes about long, acute, ciliate with long simple hairs, glabrous on the back, eglandular; corolla long, glabrous; stamens slightly exserted, the filaments about long; style glabrous; fruit much flattened, about long, wide, and thick, fleshy, the endocarp 3-sulcate on one face (the central groove very slight, the lateral pronounced) and lightly 2-sulcate on the other, with no ventral intrusion.Morton, C. V. (1933). The Mexican and Central American species of Viburnum.
accessed 08.13.2013.

Distribution and habitat

''Viburnum australe'' is native to the

Sierra Madre Oriental The Sierra Madre Oriental () is a mountain range in northeastern Mexico. The Sierra Madre Oriental is part of the American Cordillera, a chain of mountain ranges (cordillera) that consists of an almost continuous sequence of mountain ranges that f ...

in the

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

states of

Coahuila Coahuila (), formally Coahuila de Zaragoza (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Coahuila de Zaragoza ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Coahuila de Zaragoza), is one of the 32 states of Mexico. Coahuila borders the Mexican states of N ...

and Nuevo Léon. It also occurs in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in the

Davis Mountains The Davis Mountains, originally known as Limpia Mountains, are a range of mountains in West Texas, located near Fort Davis, after which they are named. The fort was named for then United States Secretary of War and later Confederate President Je ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. ''V. australe'' inhabits mesic pine-oak forests above .Muller, C. H. (1939). Relations of the vegetation and climatic types in Nuevo Leon, Mexico. American Midland Naturalist, 687-729.
accessed 08.13.2013.

Taxonomy and evolution

The generic name originated in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

, where it referred to '' V. lantana''. The specific epithet ''australe'' is derived from Latin ''australis'', meaning "southern" (c.f.

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

). ''Viburnum australe'' was described as a separate species by

Conrad Vernon Morton Conrad Vernon Morton (24 October 1905 – 29 July 1972) was an American botanist who did notable writings on Ferns. He was also a specialist in Gesneriaceae and Solanaceae for the Smithsonian Institution from 1928. In 1938, botanists Standl. & S ...

in 1933, from a specimen collected in 1906 by

Cyrus Guernsey Pringle Cyrus Guernsey Pringle (May 6, 1838 – May 25, 1911) was an American botanist who spent a career of 35 years cataloguing the plants of North America. He was a prolific collector and accomplished botanical explorer. Early life He was born on M ...

. Subsequent taxonomists subsumed ''V. australe'' into ''Viburnum affine'' C.K.Schneid., which is itself considered a

midwestern The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...

variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

of '' Viburnum rafinesqueanum''

Schult. Josef (Joseph) August Schultes (15 April 1773 in Vienna – 21 April 1831 in Landshut) was an Austrian botanist and professor from Vienna. Together with Johann Jacob Roemer (1763–1819), he published the 16th edition of Linnaeus' ''Systema ...

Estes, D. (2010). Viburnum bracteatum (Adoxaceae) expanded to include Viburnum ozarkense. Castanea, 75(2), 277-293.
doi:10.2179/08-062.1. However, recent

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

work has revealed that ''V. australe'' is actually more closely related to '' V. ellipticum'', from the

Pacific Coast Ranges The Pacific Coast Ranges (officially gazetted as the Pacific Mountain System in the United States) are the series of mountain ranges that stretch along the West Coast of North America from Alaska south to Northern and Central Mexico. Although the ...

of the western United States, than it is to ''V. rafinesqueanum''.Clement, W. L., & Donoghue, M. J. (2012). Barcoding success as a function of phylogenetic relatedness in Viburnum, a clade of woody angiosperms. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 12(1), 73.
doi:10.1186/1471-2148-12-73. ''V. australe'' would therefore be considered a distinct species under the

phylogenetic species concept In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sex ...

. ''Viburnum australe'' and ''V. ellipticum'' are closely related to three species from

eastern North America The Nearctic realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting the Earth's land surface. The Nearctic realm covers most of North America, including Greenland, Central Florida, and the highlands of Mexico. The parts of North America ...

: ''V. rafinesqueanum'', '' V. molle'', and the endangered '' V. bracteatum''. These species, known as

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...

Mollodontotinus, are in turn more distantly related to the arrowwood

species complex In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

and its

Neotropical The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In bioge ...

relatives in clade Oreinodontotinus.Clement, W. L., & Donoghue, M. J. (2011). Dissolution of Viburnum section Megalotinus (Adoxaceae) of Southeast Asia and its implications for morphological evolution and biogeography. International Journal of Plant Sciences, 172(4), 559-573.
doi:.

Conservation

''Viburnum australe'' is considered to be a rare species in the United States, where it is known from a single locality near the town of Madera Springs, Texas.Powell, A. M. (1998). Trees and shrubs of the Trans-Pecos and adjacent areas. University of Texas Press.
page 386. Like other species in clades Mollodontotinus and Oreinodontotinus, ''Viburnum australe'' is vulnerable to '' Pyrrhalta viburni'', an

invasive Invasive may refer to: *Invasive (medical) procedure *Invasive species *Invasive observation, especially in reference to surveillance *Invasively progressive spread of disease from one organ in the body to another, especially in reference to cancer ...

Eurasian Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelago ...

leaf beetle The insects of the beetle family Chrysomelidae are commonly known as leaf beetles, and include over 37,000 (and probably at least 50,000) species in more than 2,500 genera, making up one of the largest and most commonly encountered of all beetle ...

. North American ''Viburnum'', which did not

coevolve In biology, coevolution occurs when two or more species reciprocally affect each other's evolution through the process of natural selection. The term sometimes is used for two traits in the same species affecting each other's evolution, as well ...

with ''P. viburni'', lack the physiological defenses that allow its Eurasian relatives to fend off beetle infestations, and have therefore been decimated in areas where ''P. viburni'' has become established.Desurmont, G. A., Donoghue, M. J., Clement, W. L., & Agrawal, A. A. (2011). Evolutionary history predicts plant defense against an invasive pest. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(17), 7070-7074.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.1102891108.

References

External links

Holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

o
''Viburnum australe''
at the

JSTOR JSTOR (; short for ''Journal Storage'') is a digital library founded in 1995 in New York City. Originally containing digitized back issues of academic journals, it now encompasses books and other primary sources as well as current issues of j ...

Global Plants

virtual herbarium In botany, a virtual herbarium is a herbarium in a digitized form. That is, it concerns a collection of digital images of preserved plants or plant parts. Virtual herbaria often are established to improve availability of specimens to a wider audie ...

. {{Taxonbar, from=Q16993415 australe Flora of Northeastern Mexico Flora of the Sierra Madre Oriental Flora of Texas