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Maldives–Lakshadweep–Chagos Archipelago Tropical Moist Forests
The Maldives–Lakshadweep–Chagos Archipelago tropical moist forests is a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion in South Asia. It spans a chain of coralline islands in the Indian Ocean, including Lakshadweep (Laccadive Islands), a union territory of India; the Maldives, an independent country; and the British Indian Ocean Territory, an overseas territory of the United Kingdom.Wikramanayake, Eric; Eric Dinerstein; Colby J. Loucks; et al. (2002). ''Terrestrial Ecoregions of the Indo-Pacific: a Conservation Assessment.'' Washington, DC: Island Press. Geography The ecoregion is made up of low islands made mostly of coral sand, generally no more than 5 meters above sea level, and surrounded by extensive coral reefs. The islands rest on the Chagos–Laccadive Ridge, an oceanic ridge and plateau, and extend 2,550 km north and south across the equator, from latitude 14º N to 8º S. Lakshadweep lies to the north, 300 km west of India's southwest coast. Lakshadweep consists ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indomalayan Realm
The Indomalayan realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms. It extends across most of South and Southeast Asia and into the southern parts of East Asia. Also called the Oriental realm by biogeographers, Indomalaya spreads all over the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia to lowland southern China, and through Indonesia as far as Sumatra, Java, Bali, and Borneo, east of which lies the Wallace line, the realm boundary named after Alfred Russel Wallace which separates Indomalaya from Australasia. Indomalaya also includes the Philippines, lowland Taiwan, and Japan's Ryukyu Islands. Most of Indomalaya was originally covered by forest, and includes tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, with tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests predominant in much of India and parts of Southeast Asia. The tropical forests of Indomalaya are highly variable and diverse, with economically important trees, especially in the families Dipterocarpaceae and Fabaceae. Major ecol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tournefortia Argentea
''Heliotropium arboreum'' is a species of flowering plant in the borage family, Boraginaceae. It is native to tropical Asia including southern China, Madagascar, northern Australia, and most of the atolls and high islands of Micronesia and Polynesia. Common names include velvetleaf soldierbush, tree heliotrope, veloutier, and octopus bush. It is a shrub or small tree typical of littoral zones reaching a height of , with a spread of about . Taxonomy Originally published as ''Tournefortia argentea'', it was transferred to ''Argusia argentea'', and remained under that name until recently. It was subsequently restored to the genus ''Tournefortia'' before being transferred into the genus ''Heliotropium'' under a new name in 2003. Botanical description The tree heliotrope is a small to medium sized growing tree that typically reaches heights of . The leaves of this tree are light green in color, silvery in sheen, and silky in texture. The tree produces small fruits and flowers durin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pisonia Grandis
''Pisonia grandis'', the grand devil's-claws, is a species of flowering tree in the ''Bougainvillea'' family, Nyctaginaceae. Description The tree has broad, thin leaves, smooth bark and bears clusters of green sweet-smelling flowers that mature into sticky barbed seeds. Dispersal occurs when seeds stick to bird feathers. Vegetative reproduction frequently results when fallen branches sprout or basal shoots develop into new trees. Distribution ''Pisonia'' trees are distributed throughout the coral cays of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. The species often dominates mature coral cay vegetation, growing in dense, thick strands up to tall. ''Pisonia'' wood is rather weak and soft and decays rapidly when the trees fall. ''Pisonia'' forests are a common nesting site for seabirds. One of the best remaining ''Pisonia'' forests can be found on Palmyra Atoll. St. Pierre Island, Farquhar Group, was once covered by a ''Pisonia grandis'' forest. This forest disappeared after guano mini ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cordia Subcordata
''Cordia subcordata'' is a species of flowering tree in the borage family. It can be found growing in eastern Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, northern Australia and the Pacific Islands including Hawaii. The plant is known by a variety of names, including kou, beach cordia, sea trumpet, and kerosene wood. Description A mature kou tree grows to at maturity, but may be as tall as . It has ovate leaves that are and wide with short hairs on the upper surface. Flowers and fruit Blooming occurs throughout the year, but most kou flowers are produced in the spring. Each kou flower is funnel- or tube-shaped long and in diameter, made of orange petals and pale green sepals that form cymes or panicles. Kou trees produce fruit all year around. Their fruit are spherical long, brown, and woody when mature. Each fruit contains four or fewer seeds that are long. The fruit are buoyant and may be carried very far by ocean currents. Distribution and habitat ''C. subcordata'' h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barringtonia Asiatica
''Barringtonia asiatica'', known variously as fish poison tree, putat and beach Barrintonia among other names, is a species of plants in the brazil nut family Lecythidaceae. It is native to coastal habitats from Tanzania and Madagascar in the west to tropical Asia, northern Australia, and islands of the western Pacific Ocean. It was described by Wilhelm Sulpiz Kurz in 1875 and has a conservation status of least concern. It has been used by a number of traditional cultures as a fish poison. Description This is a tree which will usually grow to a height of about , occasionally to , and a trunk diameter of up to diameter. The trunk is irregularly shaped and often leaning, the bark is dark and coarse. The leaves are , or pear-shaped, being widest at the tip and narrowest at the base. They are glossy green and somewhat waxy, and may reach up to about long and wide. The margin is without lobes and the petiole (leaf stalk) is very short or absent. Flowers are produced in erect r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Calophyllum Inophyllum
''Calophyllum inophyllum'' is a large evergreen plant, commonly called tamanu, oil-nut, mastwood, beach calophyllum or beautyleaf. It is native to the Old World Tropics, from Africa through Asia to Australia and Polynesia. Due to its importance as a source of timber for the traditional shipbuilding of large outrigger ships, it has been spread in prehistoric times by the migrations of the Austronesian peoples to the islands of Oceania and Madagascar, along with other members of the genus ''Calophyllum''. It has since been naturalized in regions of the East African coast. It is also a source of the culturally important tamanu oil. Names ''Calophyllum inophyllum'' is also known as Alexandrian laurel balltree, beach touriga, Borneo-mahogany, Indian doomba oiltree, Indian-laurel, laurelwood, red poon, satin touriga, and tacamahac-tree. In Island Southeast Asia and Oceania, it is also commonly known as bintangur, bitaog, tamanu, or kamani. In Kiswahili it is known as Mtondoo. Descri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Epiphyte
An epiphyte is a plant or plant-like organism that grows on the surface of another plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphytes grow are called phorophytes. Epiphytes take part in nutrient cycles and add to both the diversity and biomass of the ecosystem in which they occur, like any other organism. In some cases, a rainforest tree's epiphytes may total "several tonnes" (several long tons). They are an important source of food for many species. Typically, the older parts of a plant will have more epiphytes growing on them. Epiphytes differ from parasites in that they grow on other plants for physical support and do not necessarily affect the host negatively. An organism that grows on another organism that is not a plant may be called an epibiont. Epiphytes are usually found in the temperate zone (e.g., many mosses, liverworts, lichens, and algae) or in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Asplenium Nidus
''Asplenium nidus'' is an epiphytic species of fern in the family Aspleniaceae, native to tropical southeastern Asia, eastern Australia, Hawaii (''ʻēkaha'' in Hawaiian), Polynesia,MacDonald, Elvin "The World Book of House Plants" pp.264 Popular Books Christmas Island, India, and eastern Africa. It is known by the common names bird's-nest fern (a name shared by some other aspleniums) or simply nest fern. Description ''Asplenium nidus'' forms large simple fronds visually similar to banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus '' Musa''. In some countries, cooking bananas are called plantains, distinguishing the ... leaves, with the fronds growing to long and broad, with occasional individuals up to 6.6 feet (two meters) in length by up to two feet (61 centimeters) width They are light green, often crinkled, with a black midrib, and exhibit circinate ve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neisosperma Oppositifolium
''Ochrosia oppositifolia'' grows as a small to medium-sized tree up to tall, with a trunk diameter of up to . Its flowers feature a creamy to white corolla. Its habitat is coastal forest, bush or open areas to altitude, rarely inland. Local medicinal uses include as a carminative and in high doses as an abortifacient. ''Ochrosia oppositifolia'' is native to regions from the Seychelles through tropical Asia to the Pacific. Oppositines are vasorelaxant beta-carbolines isolated from ''Ochrosia oppositifolia''. Gallery File:Ochrosia oppositifolia 3836716.jpg, Fruits. Tonga File:Ochrosia oppositifolia seed and seedling, Guam.jpg, Fruit and seedling. Dededo Dededo (; Spanish: ) is the most populated village in the United States territory of Guam. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Dededo's population was just under 45,000 in 2020. The village is located on the coral plateau of Northern Guam. The gr ..., Guam File:Ochrosia oppositifolia in understory, Dededo, Guam.jpg, Leave ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guettarda Speciosa
''Guettarda speciosa'', with common names sea randa, or zebra wood, is a species of shrub in the family Rubiaceae found in coastal habitats in tropical areas around the Pacific Ocean, including the coastline of central and northern Queensland and Northern Territory in Australia, and Pacific Islands, including Micronesia, French Polynesia and Fiji, Malaysia and Indonesia, Maldives and the east coast of Africa. It reaches 6 m in height, has fragrant white flowers, and large green prominently-veined leaves. It grows in sand above the high tide mark. Taxonomy and naming ''Guettarda speciosa'' was originally described by Carl Linnaeus in volume two of his ''Species Plantarum'' in 1753, citing Java as its origin. The genus was named in honour of the 18th century French naturalist Jean-Étienne Guettard, while the specific epithet is derived from the Latin ''speciosus'' 'showy'. It is the type species of the genus. Its closest relatives are all native to the neotropics, yet it has disp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Morinda Citrifolia
''Morinda citrifolia'' is a fruit-bearing tree in the coffee family, Rubiaceae, native to Southeast Asia and Australasia, which was spread across the Pacific by Polynesian sailors. The species is now cultivated throughout the tropics and widely naturalised. There are over 100 names for this fruit across different regions, including great morinda, Indian mulberry, noni, beach mulberry, vomit fruit, awl tree, and rotten cheese fruit. The pungent odour of the fresh fruit has made it a famine food in most regions, but it remains a staple food among some cultures and is used in traditional medicine. In the consumer market, dietary supplements are sold in various formats, such as capsules and juices. Common names * Chinese: Hai ba ji, Wu ning (Singapore), Luo ling (Singapore, Taiwan) * Cook Islands, Niue, Samoa, Tonga: Nonu, noni, nenu, nano, nonu atoni, gogu atoni * English, Tahiti: Canary wood (Australia), Indian mulberry, Large-leaved Morinda, Noni (Hawaii), Noni fruit, No ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Terminalia Catappa
''Terminalia catappa'' is a large Tropics, tropical tree in the leadwood tree family, Combretaceae, native to Asia, Australia, the Pacific, Madagascar and Seychelles. Common names in English include country almond, Indian almond, Malabar almond, sea almond, tropical almond, beach almond and false kamani. The Botanical name#Components of plant names, species epithet is based on its Malay language, Malay name ''ketapang''. Description The tree grows to tall, with an upright, symmetrical crown and horizontal branches. As the tree gets older, its crown becomes more flattened to form a spreading, vase shape. Its branches are distinctively arranged in tiers. The leaves are large and ovoid, long and broad; they have a glossy and leathery dark green surface like paper. They deciduous, fall during the dry season; they turn pinkish-reddish or yellow-brown, due to pigments such as violaxanthin, lutein, and zeaxanthin. The trees are monoecious, with distinct small male and female flow ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
