Scaevola (plant)

''Scaevola'' is a genus of flowering plants in the ''Goodenia'' family, Goodeniaceae. It consists of more than 130 species, with the center of diversity being Australia and Polynesia. There are around 80 species in Australia, occurring throughout the continent, in a variety of habitats. Diversity is highest in the South West, where around 40 species are endemic.

Common names for ''Scaevola'' species include scaevolas, fan-flowers, half-flowers, and naupaka, the plants' Hawaiian name. The flowers are shaped as if they have been cut in half. Consequently, the generic name means "left-handed" in Latin. Many Hawaiian legends have been told to explain the formation of the shape of the flowers. In one version a woman tears the flower in half after a quarrel with her lover. The gods, angered, turn all naupaka flowers into half flowers and the two lovers remained separated while the man is destined to search in vain for another whole flower.

''Scaevola'' is the only Goodeniaceae genus that is widespread outside of Australia. In at least six separate dispersals, about 40 species have spread throughout the Pacific Basin, with a few reaching the tropical coasts of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.

The Hawaiian Islands are home to ten ''Scaevola'' species, nine of which are endemic. Eight of the indigenous species are the result of a single colonization event. '' Scaevola glabra'' and ''Scaevola taccada'' arrived separately to produce a total of three colonizations of Hawaii by ''Scaevola''. Some of the endemic species are of hybrid origin.

Beach naupaka (''Scaevola taccada'' synonym ''S. sericea'') occurs throughout the Pacific and Indian Oceans and is considered an invasive species in Florida, USA, and in some islands of the Caribbean including the Cayman Islands and the Bahamas. Beachberry or Inkberry (''Scaevola plumieri'') is widespread along the Atlantic coast of the tropical Americas and Africa; however, it is becoming rarer in areas where ''S. taccada'' is displacing native coastal plants.

Most Australian ''Scaevola'' have dry fruits and sprawling, herbaceous to shrubby habits. By contrast, nearly all species outside Australia have shrub habits with fleshy fruit making dispersal by frugivores easy.{

The plant pathogenic sac fungus '' Mycosphaerella scaevolae'' was discovered on a ''Scaevola'' fan-flower.

In Europe, '' Scaevola aemula'' is a fairly common container- and bedding plant, usually grown as an annual.

Taxonomy

The genus ''Scaevola'' was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1771. He did not explain the origin of the genus name. It is considered to allude to the one-sided shape of the flower, which has a five-lobed tubular corolla; in Latin means 'left-handed'. Linnaeus created the genus for a species he had previously described as ''Lobelia plumieri'', which is thus the type species. Linnaeus did not explicitly use the specific epithet ''plumieri'' in combination with the genus ''Scaevola''; the combination ''Scaevola plumieri'' was first published by Martin Vahl in 1791.

Species

, ''Plants of the World Online'' accepted the following species:

*'' Scaevola acacioides'' Carolin
*'' Scaevola aemula'' R.Br.
*'' Scaevola albida'' (Sm.) Druce
*''Scaevola amblyanthera'' F.Muell.
*''Scaevola anchusifolia'' Benth.
*''Scaevola angulata'' R.Br.
*'' Scaevola angustata'' Carolin
*''Scaevola archeriana'' L.W.Sage
*''Scaevola arenaria'' E.Pritz.
*''Scaevola argentea'' Carolin
*''Scaevola auriculata'' Benth.
*'' Scaevola balansae'' Guillaumin
*'' Scaevola ballajupensis'' L.W.Sage
*'' Scaevola barrierei'' A.S.Wulff & Munzinger
*'' Scaevola basedowii'' Carolin
*''Scaevola beckii'' Zahlbr.
*''Scaevola brookeana'' F.Muell.
*''Scaevola browniana'' Carolin
*''Scaevola bursariifolia'' J.M.Black
*''Scaevola calendulacea'' (Andrews) Druce
*'' Scaevola calliptera'' Benth.
*'' Scaevola canescens'' Benth.
* ''Scaevola'' × ''cerasifolia'' Skottsb.
*''Scaevola chamissoniana'' Gaudich.
*''Scaevola chanii'' K.M.Wong
*''Scaevola chrysopogon'' Carolin
*''Scaevola coccinea'' Däniker
*''Scaevola collaris'' F.Muell.
*''Scaevola collina'' J.M.Black ex E.L.Robertson
*''Scaevola coriacea'' Nutt.
*''Scaevola crassifolia'' Labill.
*''Scaevola cuneiformis'' Labill.
*'' Scaevola cunninghamii'' DC.
*'' Scaevola cylindrica'' Schltr. & K.Krause
*''Scaevola densifolia'' Carolin
*''Scaevola depauperata'' R.Br.
*'' Scaevola enantophylla'' F.Muell.
*''Scaevola eneabba'' Carolin
*'' Scaevola erosa'' Guillaumin
*''Scaevola floribunda'' A.Gray
*''Scaevola gaudichaudiana'' Cham.
*''Scaevola gaudichaudii'' Hook. & Arn.
*'' Scaevola glabra'' Hook. & Arn.
*''Scaevola glabrata'' Carolin
*''Scaevola glandulifera'' DC.
*'' Scaevola globosa'' (Carolin) Carolin
*'' Scaevola globulifera'' Labill.
*''Scaevola glutinosa'' Carolin
*''Scaevola gracilis'' Hook.f.
*''Scaevola graminea'' Ewart & A.H.K.Petrie
*'' Scaevola hainanensis'' Hance
*'' Scaevola hamiltonii'' K.Krause
*''Scaevola hobdyi'' W.L.Wagner
*''Scaevola hookeri'' F.Muell. ex Hook.f.
*''Scaevola humifusa'' de Vriese
*''Scaevola humilis'' R.Br.
*'' Scaevola kallophylla'' G.J.Howell
*'' Scaevola kilaueae'' O.Deg.
*'' Scaevola laciniata'' F.M.Bailey
*'' Scaevola lanceolata'' Benth.
*''Scaevola linearis'' R.Br.
*''Scaevola longifolia'' de Vriese
*''Scaevola macrophylla'' (de Vriese) Benth.
*'' Scaevola macropyrena'' I.H.Müll.
*''Scaevola macrostachya'' Benth.
*''Scaevola marquesensis'' F.Br.
*''Scaevola micrantha'' C.Presl
*''Scaevola microcarpa'' Cav.
*''Scaevola microphylla'' Benth.
*'' Scaevola mollis'' Hook. & Arn.
*'' Scaevola montana'' Labill.
*'' Scaevola muluensis'' K.M.Wong
*''Scaevola myrtifolia'' (de Vriese) K.Krause
*'' Scaevola neoebudica'' Guillaumin
*''Scaevola nitida'' R.Br.
*''Scaevola nubigena'' Lauterb.
*''Scaevola obovata'' Carolin
*''Scaevola oldfieldii'' F.Muell.
*'' Scaevola oppositifolia'' Roxb.
*''Scaevola ovalifolia'' R.Br.
*''Scaevola oxyclona'' F.Muell.
*'' Scaevola paludosa'' R.Br.
*''Scaevola parvibarbata'' Carolin
*''Scaevola parviflora'' K.Krause
*'' Scaevola parvifolia'' F.Muell. ex Benth.
*''Scaevola pauciflora'' Leenh.
*''Scaevola paulayi'' Fosberg
*'' Scaevola phlebopetala'' F.Muell.
*''Scaevola pilosa'' Benth.
*''Scaevola platyphylla'' Lindl.
*''Scaevola plumieri'' (L.) Vahl
*'' Scaevola porocarya'' F.Muell.
*''Scaevola porrecta'' A.C.Sm.
*''Scaevola procera'' Hillebr.
*''Scaevola pulchella'' Carolin
*'' Scaevola pulvinaris'' K.Krause
*''Scaevola racemigera'' Däniker
*'' Scaevola ramosissima'' (Sm.) K.Krause
*'' Scaevola repens'' de Vriese
*''Scaevola restiacea'' Benth.
*'' Scaevola revoluta'' R.Br.
*'' Scaevola sericophylla'' F.Muell. ex Benth.
*''Scaevola socotraensis'' H.St.John
*'' Scaevola spicigera'' Carolin
*'' Scaevola spinescens'' R.Br.
*''Scaevola striata'' R.Br.
*''Scaevola subcapitata'' F.Br.
*''Scaevola taccada'' (Gaertn.) Roxb.
*''Scaevola tahitensis'' Carlquist
*'' Scaevola tenuifolia'' Carolin
*''Scaevola thesioides'' Benth.
*''Scaevola tomentosa'' Gaudich.
*''Scaevola tortuosa'' Benth.
*'' Scaevola verticillata'' Leenh.
*'' Scaevola virgata'' Carolin
*'' Scaevola wrightii'' (Griseb.) M.Gómez
*''Scaevola xanthina'' K.A.Sheph. & Hislop

Notes

References

* (2003): Phylogenetics of the genus ''Scaevola'' (Goodeniaceae): implication for dispersal patterns across the Pacific Basin and colonization of the Hawaiian Islands. '' Am. J. Bot.'' 90(6): 915–213
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Asterales genera
Pantropical flora