''Cecarria'' 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 "unispec ...

genus in the family

Loranthaceae Loranthaceae, commonly known as the showy mistletoes, is a family of flowering plants. It consists of about 75 genera and 1,000 species of woody plants, many of them hemiparasites. The three terrestrial species are '' Nuytsia floribunda'' (the ...

. The sole species is ''Cecarria obtusifolia'', a

hemiparasitic A parasitic plant is a plant that derives some or all of its nutritional requirements from another living plant. They make up about 1% of angiosperms and are found in almost every biome. All parasitic plants develop a specialized organ called ...

aerial shrub.

Description

''Cecarria obtusifolia'' is an aerial, stem-parasitic shrub, and like species in the genus '' Muellerina'', it has epicortical runners. It is

glabrous Glabrousness (from the Latin '' glaber'' meaning "bald", "hairless", "shaved", "smooth") is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part o ...

throughout. The obovate or broadly obovate leaves are opposite, curvinerved, and rounded at the apex. The leaf blades are 30–55 mm long and 20–45 mm wide, and attenuate into an obscure petiole 2–6 mm long. The inflorescence is axillary, with and a two-flowered umbel or a four-flowered raceme or spike; there are nearly orbicular bracts beneath each flower. The flower has six free petals. The stamens are nearly equal, and the anthers are dorsifixed and versatile, having a short sterile tip with the free part of the filament about 2 mm long. The peduncle is 6–9 mm long and up to 20 mm when the inflorescence is a raceme. The flowers are sessile or on pedicels up to 3 mm long. The calyx is entire and 0.5–1 mm long. The ivory-white corolla in mature bud is 10–14 mm long and slightly club-shaped. The fruit is almost spherical and about 8 mm long.

Distribution and habitat

''Cecarria obtusifolia'' occurs in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...

, the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its ca ...

, and in

Cape York Peninsula Cape York Peninsula is a large peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest unspoiled wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth’s last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupación ...

, Queensland, Australia, and also in the

Lesser Sunda Islands The Lesser Sunda Islands or nowadays known as Nusa Tenggara Islands ( id, Kepulauan Nusa Tenggara, formerly ) are an archipelago in Maritime Southeast Asia, north of Australia. Together with the Greater Sunda Islands to the west they make u ...

and Bougainville (New Guinea). The genus is thought to be a relictual

Gondwana Gondwana () was a large landmass, often referred to as a supercontinent, that formed during the late Neoproterozoic (about 550 million years ago) and began to break up during the Jurassic period (about 180 million years ago). The final st ...

n entity. In Australia it occurs in the

McIlwraith Range The McIlwraith Range is a rugged, dissected granite plateau on Cape York Peninsula of Far North Queensland, Australia. Part of the Great Dividing Range, the McIlwraith Range covers about and lies about east of the town of Coen, and nor ...

area in Queensland, growing in rainforest. Recorded hosts include plants in the genera: ''

Calophyllum ''Calophyllum'' is a genus of tropical flowering plants in the family Calophyllaceae. They are mainly distributed in Asia, with some species in Africa, the Americas, Australasia, and the Pacific Islands. History Members of the genus ''Calophyll ...

'', ''

Casuarina ''Casuarina'' is a genus of 17 tree species in the family Casuarinaceae, native to Australia, the Indian subcontinent, southeast Asia, islands of the western Pacific Ocean, and eastern Africa. It was once treated as the sole genus in the fam ...

'', and ''

Syzygium ''Syzygium'' () is a genus of flowering plants that belongs to the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. The genus comprises about 1200 species, and has a native range that extends from Africa and Madagascar through southern Asia east through the Pacific. I ...

'', and ''

Xanthostemon ''Xanthostemon'' is a genus of trees and shrubs, constituting part of the myrtle plant family Myrtaceae. This genus was first described in 1857 by German–Australian botanist Ferdinand von Mueller. According to different official sources between ...

''.Nickrent, D
The Parasitic Plant Connection: ''Cecarria obtusifolia''.
Department of Plant Biology, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. Retrieved 21 November 2018.

Taxonomy

The species was first described by

Elmer Drew Merrill Elmer Drew Merrill (October 15, 1876 – February 25, 1956) was an American botanist and taxonomist. He spent more than twenty years in the Philippines where he became a recognized authority on the flora of the Asia-Pacific region. Through ...

as ''Phrygilanthus obtusifolius'' in 1906. In 1973, Bryan Barlow redescribed it, assigning it to the new genus, ''Cecarria'', and the name thus became ''C. obtusifolia''. The current accepted description is that of Barlow in 1984. The genus ''Cecarria'' is named for

Cedric Errol Carr Cedric Errol Carr (16 November 1892 – 3 June 1936) was a New Zealand botanist, specialising in orchids. At the age of seven he went to England with his family but from January 1913 until 1931, apart from military service from 1916 to 1918, he wo ...

(1892–1936). The leaves, which are blunt and rounded at the apex (tip), gave rise to the latin-derived name, ''obtusifolia'', meaning "obtuse-leaved".

Conservation

It is considered to be "Not Threatened" (NT) in

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

under the

Nature Conservation Act 1992 The ''Nature Conservation Act 1992'' is an act of the Parliament of Queensland, Australia, that, together with subordinate legislation, provides for the legislative protection of Queensland's threatened biota. As originally published, it prov ...

of Queensland.Rare or threatened plants of Queensland
Queensland Government, Department of Environment and Science. Retrieved 21 November 2018.

References

External links

Australasian Virtual Herbarium: Occurrence data for ''Cecarria obtusifolia''

Illustration of ''Cecarria obtusifolia'' (Merr.) Barlow. www.botanicalillustrations.org

GBIF:Occurrence data and images for ''Cecarria obtusifolia''

Google images: ''Cecarria obtusifolia''

at

Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants, also known as RFK, is an identification key giving details—including images, taxonomy, descriptions, range, habitat, and other information—of almost all species of flowering plants (i.e. trees, shr ...

Flora Malesiana: ''Cecarria obtusifolia''
{{Taxonbar, from1=Q8343294, from2=Q15379520 Parasitic plants Loranthaceae Loranthaceae genera Flora of Queensland Monotypic Santalales genera Plants described in 1906 Flora of New Guinea Taxa named by Bryan Alwyn Barlow