''Guettarda speciosa'', with

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contrast ...

s sea randa, or zebra wood, is a species of

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Rubiaceae The Rubiaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the coffee, madder, or bedstraw family. It consists of terrestrial trees, shrubs, lianas, or herbs that are recognizable by simple, opposite leaves with interpetiolar stipules ...

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 Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

in volume two of his ''

Species Plantarum ' (Latin for "The Species of Plants") is a book by Carl Linnaeus, originally published in 1753, which lists every species of plant known at the time, classified into genera. It is the first work to consistently apply binomial names and was the ...

'' in 1753, citing

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...

as its origin. The genus was named in honour of the 18th century French naturalist

Jean-Étienne Guettard Jean-Étienne Guettard (22 September 1715 – 7 January 1786), French naturalist and mineralogist, was born at Étampes, near Paris. In boyhood, he gained a knowledge of plants from his grandfather, who was an apothecary, and later he qualif ...

, while the specific epithet is derived from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

''speciosus'' 'showy'. It is the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

of the genus. Its closest relatives are all native to the neotropics, yet it has dispersed widely across tropical habitats worldwide. Alternate names in the Cook Islands include ''Ano'', ''Hano'', ''Fano'', and ''Puapua''. The last is also used in Samoa, and the similar ''Puopua'' in Tonga. It is known as ' in the

Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands ( mh, Ṃajeḷ), officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands ( mh, Aolepān Aorōkin Ṃajeḷ),'' () is an independent island country and microstate near the Equator in the Pacific Ocean, slightly west of the Internati ...

Description

It is a perennial shrub or small tree tall by wide with smooth creamy grey bark. The large oval-shaped leaves are long by wide. Dark green and smooth above with prominent paler veins, they are finely hairy underneath. Flowering is from October to May, the fragrant white flowers are long with 4–9 lobes. These are followed by sweet-smelling globular hard fruit, measuring , which mature September to March.

Distribution and habitat

''Guettarda speciosa'' is 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. As its name suggests, the beach gardenia grows on beaches and sandy places above the high tide level.

Ecology

The timing of the flowers' opening at night suggests they are pollinated by moths. On Christmas Island, the

Christmas white-eye The Christmas white-eye (''Zosterops natalis'') is a species of bird in the family Zosteropidae. It is endemic to Christmas Island. Its natural habitats are tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests and subtropical or tropical moist shrub ...

(''Zosterops natalis'') visits the flowers, while the

Christmas Island red crab The Christmas Island red crab (''Gecarcoidea natalis'') is a species of land crab that is endemic to Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands in the Indian Ocean. Although restricted to a relatively small area, an estimated 43.7 million a ...

(''Gecarcoidea natalis'') eat the fallen fruit. The

Mariana Fruit Bat The Mariana fruit bat (''Pteropus mariannus''), also known as the Mariana flying fox, and the ''fanihi'' in Chamorro, is a megabat found only in the Mariana Islands and Ulithi (an atoll in the Caroline Islands). Habitat loss has driven it to enda ...

(''Pteropus mariannus'') feeds on the fruit and flowers, acting as a vector for the dispersal of seeds.

Human use

Use by indigenous cultures

The large leaves were used in various ways by the indigenous people of northern Australia; they could hold food, and when heated, they were given to relieve headaches and aches in limbs. The stems could be used to make Macassan pipes. The flowers were used to scent coconut oil on the Cook Islands, and the wood for dwellings and canoes.

Cultivation

A very useful plant for seaside planting in tropical climates, ''Guettarda speciosa'' needs a sunny aspect and well-drained soil. It has proven difficult to propagate, as this must be done by seed which may take months to germinate.

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q772689

speciosa Speciosa (foaled 28 April 2003) is an Irish-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. In a racing career which lasted from June 2005 and October 2007 she ran seventeen times and won four races. As a two-year-old, she won two of her six race ...

Flora of Queensland Flora of Ashmore and Cartier Islands Flora of Kenya Flora of Tanzania Flora of Indo-China Flora of Malesia Flora of Papuasia Flora of the Pacific Gentianales of Australia Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Flora of Tonga