Myoporum mauritianum
| Myoporum mauritianum | |
|---|---|
| |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Lamiales |
| Family: | Scrophulariaceae |
| Genus: | Myoporum |
| Species: | M. mauritianum
|
| Binomial name | |
| Myoporum mauritianum | |
Myoporum mauritianum is a species of flowering plant in the figwort family Scrophulariaceae and is endemic to a few volcanic islands in the Indian Ocean. It is a small, low-branched shrub with serrated leaves and small white flowers and usually grows on calcarenite within 20 metres (70 ft) of the sea.
Description
[edit]Myoporum mauritianum is a low shrub, usually growing to no more than 1 metre (3 ft). It has thick, lance-shaped leaves with serrated edges and are about 44–66 millimetres (2–3 in) long and 7.5–12 millimetres (0.3–0.5 in) wide.[2]
The flowers occur singly or in pairs in the axils of the leaves on a stalk 9–14.5 millimetres (0.4–0.6 in) long and there are 5 triangular sepals. The petals are white and form a tube 2.5–4 millimetres (0.1–0.2 in) long with the lobes spreading to about 2 millimetres (0.08 in). The fruit is a yellow, roughly spherical drupe.[2]
Taxonomy and naming
[edit]Myoporum mauritianum was first formally described by botanist Alphonse de Candolle in Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae in 1810.[1][3] The specific epithet mauitianum is the latinised form of Mauritius.
Distribution and habitat
[edit]Myoporum mauritianum occurs on the island of Rodrigues in the Republic of Mauritius where there are a few individual plants. Larger populations are found on a few smaller islands near Rodrigues but the species is thought to be extinct on Mauritius, where the type specimen was found.[2]
Conservation
[edit]Myoporum mauritianum was listed as "endangered" on Rodrigues and extinct on Mauritius in the 1997 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants. It has not yet been assessed for the 2014-2015 version.[4]
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Myoporum mauritianum". International Plant Names Index (IPNI). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries; Australian National Botanic Gardens. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
- ^ a b c Chinnock, Robert J. (2007). Eremophila and allied genera : a monograph of the plant family Myoporaceae (1st ed.). Dural, NSW: Rosenberg. pp. 134–135. ISBN 9781877058165.
- ^ de Candolle, Alphonse (1847). Prodromus systematis naturalis regni vegetabilis. Paris: Sumptibus Victoris Masson. p. 711. Retrieved 24 November 2015.
- ^ Walter (ed), Kerry S.; Gillett, Harriet J. (1998). 1997 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN Species Survival Commission. p. 415. ISBN 283170328X.
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