Alphitonia

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Eudicots
Cladus: Core eudicots
Cladus: Rosids
Cladus: Eurosids I
Ordoo: Rosales

Familia: Rhamnaceae
Subfamilia: Ziziphoideae
Tribus: Unplaced Ziziphoids
Genus: Alphitonia
Species: A. carolinensis – A. excelsa – A. ferruginea – A. franguloides – A. incana – A. macrocarpa – A. marquesensis – A. neocaledonica – A. oblata – A. petriei – A. philippinensis – A. pomaderroides – A. ponderosa – A. whitei – A. zizyphoides
Name

Alphitonia Reissek ex Endl., Gen. Pl. [Endlicher] 1098. (1840)

Type species: Alphitonia excelsa (Fenzl) Benth., Fl. Austral. 1: 414. (1863)

References

Endlicher, S.L. 1836–1840. Genera plantarum secundum ordines naturales disposita. (pp I–LX, 1–1484). Vindobonae (Vienna). BHL Reference page. (p.1098)
Alphitonia in: Australian Plant Census (APC) 2018. IBIS database, Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research, Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria. Accessed: 2018 February 17.
Govaerts, R. et al. 2018. Alphitonia in Kew Science Plants of the World online. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the internet. Accessed: 17 February 2018.
Hauenschild, F., Favre, A., Schulz, M. & Muellner-Riehl, A.N. 2018. Biogeographic analyses support an Australian origin for the Indomalesian-Australasian wet forest-adapted tropical tree and shrub genus Alphitonia and its close allies (Rhamnaceae). Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 188(1): 1-20. DOI: 10.1093/botlinnean/boy048 Open access Reference page.
Hopkins, H.C.F., Pillon, Y., Stacy, E.A. & Kellermann, J. 2015. Jaffrea, a new genus of Rhamnaceae endemic to New Caledonia, with notes on Alphitonia and Emmenosperma. Kew Bulletin 70(4): 1-19. DOI: 10.1007/s12225-015-9593-6 Paywall ResearchGate Reference page.
International Plant Names Index. 2018. Alphitonia. Published online. Accessed: 17 February 2018.
Tropicos.org 2018. Alphitonia. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2018 February 17.
USDA, ARS, Germplasm Resources Information Network. Alphitonia in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service. Accessed: 09-Oct-10.
GBIF: Alphitonia Endl.

Alphitonia is a genus of arborescent flowering plants comprising about 20 species, constituting part of the buckthorn family (Rhamnaceae). They occur in tropical regions of Southeast Asia, Oceania and Polynesia. These are large trees or shrubs. In Australia, they are often called "ash trees" or "sarsaparilla trees". This is rather misleading however; among the flowering plants, Alphitonia is not closely related to the true ash trees (Fraxinus of the asterids), and barely at all to the monocot sarsaparilla vines (Smilax).

The name is derived from Greek álphiton (ἄλφιτον, "barley-meal"), from the mealy quality of their fruits' mesocarps.[2] Another interpretation is that "baked barley meal" alludes to the mealy red covering around the hard cells in the fruit.[3]

The lanceolate coriaceous leaves are alternate, about 12 cm long. The margins are smooth. Venation is pinnate. They have white to rusty complex hairs on the under surface. The petiole is less than a quarter the length of a blade. Stipules are present.

The small flowers form terminal or axillary clusters of small creamy blossoms during spring. The flowers are bisexual. Hypanthium is present. The flowers show 5 sepals, 5 petals and 5 stamens. The ovary is inferior. The fruits are ovoid, blackish non-fleshy capsules, with one seed per locule.

Alphitonia species are used as food plants by the larva the hepialid moth Aenetus mirabilis, which feed only on these trees. They burrow horizontally into the trunk, then vertically down.
Selected species

Alphitonia carolinensis
Alphitonia excelsa (Fenzl) Reissek ex Benth. – soap tree, red ash (Australia)
Alphitonia ferruginea
Alphitonia franguloides
Alphitonia incana
Alphitonia macrocarpa
Alphitonia marquesensis F.Brown – makee (Marquesas Islands)
Alphitonia moluccana
Alphitonia neocaledonica New Caledonia
Alphitonia obtusifolia
Alphitonia petriei – pink ash, white ash (Australia)
Alphitonia ponderosa Hillebr. – kauila (Hawaiʻi)
Alphitonia philippinensis
Alphitonia rubiginota
Alphitonia whitei – red ash (Australia)
Alphitonia zizyphoides (Solander) A.Gray – toi (Polynesia)[4]

References

Alphitonia Endl. Archived 2011-03-22 at the Wayback Machine on FloraBase: Flora of Western Australia.
"Alphitonia ponderosa", Native Plants, Honolulu: University of Hawaii, 2009.
Alexander Floyd, Rainforest Trees of Mainland South-eastern Australia, Inkata Press 2008, ISBN 978-0-9589436-7-3 page 322
Thomson, Lex A. J.; Randolph R. Thaman (April 2008). "Alphitonia zizyphoides (toi)" (PDF). The Traditional Tree Initiative.