Aspidostemon

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Magnoliids
Ordo: Laurales

Familia: Lauraceae
Tribus: Cryptocaryeae
Genus: Aspidostemon
Species: A. andohahelensis – A. antongilensis – A. apiculatus – A. capuronii – A. caudatus – A. conoideus – A. dolichocarpus – A. fungiformis – A. glandulosus – A. grayi – A. humbertianus – A. inconspicuus – A. insignis – A. lacrimans – A. litoralis – A. longipedicellatus – A. lucens – A. macrophyllus – A. manongarivensis – A. masoalensis – A. microphyllus – A. occultus – A. parvifolius – A. percoriaceus – A. perrieri – A. reticulatus – A. synandra – A. trianthera – A. trichandra
Name

Aspidostemon Rohwer & H.G.Richt. Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 109(1): 71. (1987)

Type species: Aspidostemon perrieri (Danguy) Rohwer Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 109(1): 74. (1987)

References

Rohwer, J.G. & Richter, H.G. 1987. Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie 109(1): 71.
Govaerts, R. et al. 2021. Aspidostemon in Kew Science Plants of the World online. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published online. Accessed: 2021 Oct. 14. Reference page.
International Plant Names Index. 2016. Aspidostemon. Published online. Accessed: Sept. 29 2016.
van der Werff, H. 2006 A revision of the Malagasy endemic genus Aspidostemon Rohwer & Richter (Lauraceae). Adansonia 28(1): 74. Full text PDF

Aspidostemon is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Lauraceae. It occurs in Madagascar.[1]

Taxonomy

The genus was described by Jens Gunter Rohwer & Hans Georg Richter in Jahrbuch für Botanische Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie 109 (1): 74 in 1987. The type species is Aspidostemon perrieri (Danguy) Rohwer. The number of collections available is not large.[2] The identification was done at the Missouri Botanical Garden.
Description

They are shrubs or trees up to 25 m high, hermaphrodites. The leaves are entire, elliptical or narrowly elliptical. The fruit is a berry-like drupe dispersed mostly by birds. Aspidostemon species are no exception among the Lauraceae; they are trees with small flowers, hard to detect and collect and often overlooked or ignored when plants easier to collect or with showier flowers are at hand.

Aspidostemon is characterized by its opposite leaves,[2] flowers with three or six stamens (compared to 9 in Cryptocarya), and a fruit which is completely enclosed in the enlarged hypanthium with persistent floral parts attached to the top of the fruit.[2] When the genus was described by Rohwer & Richter in 1987, they recognized 11 species, but today 28 species are accepted.[citation needed] Some species are endangered or almost extinct.[2] Based on a combination of wood anatomical, vegetative, and floral characters, noted by such earlier botanists as Kostermans in 1957, the species of genus Aspidostemon were placed formerly as belonging to subgenera Hexanthera and Trianthera of Cryptocarya.[2]
Ecology

Aspidostemon species have the large trees characteristic of rainforest in montane laurel forest habitats in Madagascar and nearby islands and restricted to this region. They belong to an ancient isolated Gondwanian element of Laurales. A great number of species are in danger of extinction due to overexploitation as timber extraction and loss of habitat.

They are leafy canopy trees with erect or spreading branches. They grow to heights of up to 25 m, or some species to 40 m. Their stout trunks are up to 1 m in diameter. The genus is easily recognizable by its bark which is soft and cheese-like.[2] The thick, leathery leaves are dark green. The leaves are glossy laurel type. The leaves of Aspidostemon species are not infrequently acuminate, with an acumen folded into a short tube. On opening a few of these inrolled apices, egg cases similar to those found in leaf domatia are found; epiphyllous hepatics were also found. These inrolled apices apparently function as domatia and shelter mites that clean the leaves.

The fruit is an important food source for birds, usually from specialized genera. Birds eat the whole fruit and regurgitate or defecate the seeds intact, expanding the seeds in the best conditions for germination (ornitochory). In some species, seed dispersal is carried out by mammals.
Accepted species

29 species are currently accepted:[3]

Aspidostemon andohahelensis van der Werff
Aspidostemon antongilensis van der Werff
Aspidostemon apiculatus van der Werff
Aspidostemon capuronii van der Werff
Aspidostemon caudatus Rohwer
Aspidostemon conoideus van der Werff
Aspidostemon dolichocarpus (Kosterm.) Rohwer
Aspidostemon fungiformis van der Werff
Aspidostemon glandulosus Rohwer
Aspidostemon grayi van der Werff
Aspidostemon humbertianus (Kosterm.) Rohwer
Aspidostemon inconspicuus Rohwer
Aspidostemon insignis van der Werff
Aspidostemon lacrimans (Kosterm.) Rohwer
Aspidostemon litoralis van der Werff
Aspidostemon longipedicellatus van der Werff
Aspidostemon lucens van der Werff
Aspidostemon macrophyllus van der Werff
Aspidostemon manongarivensis van der Werff
Aspidostemon masoalensis van der Werff
Aspidostemon microphyllus van der Werff
Aspidostemon occultus van der Werff
Aspidostemon parvifolius (Scott Elliot) van der Werff
Aspidostemon percoriaceus (Kosterm.) Rohwer
Aspidostemon perrieri (Danguy) Rohwer
Aspidostemon reticulatus van der Werff
Aspidostemon synandra Rohwer
Aspidostemon trianthera (Kosterm.) Rohwer
Aspidostemon trichandra van der Werff

References

"Aspidostemon Rohwer & H.G. Richt". Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved 4 August 2010.
"Van der Werff H. 2006. — A revision of the Malagasy endemic genus Aspidostemon Rohwer & Richter (Lauraceae). Adansonia, sér. 3, 28 (1) : 7-44" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-08-08.
Aspidostemon Rohwer & H.G.Richt.. Plants of the World Online, Kew Science. Accessed 28 August 2022.