''Alphitonia'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of arborescent

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

s comprising about 15

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

, constituting part of the buckthorn family (

Rhamnaceae The Rhamnaceae are a large Family (biology), family of flowering plants, mostly trees, shrubs, and some vines, commonly called the buckthorn family. Rhamnaceae is included in the order Rosales. The family contains about 55 genera and 950 specie ...

). They occur in tropical regions of

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

Oceania Oceania ( , ) is a region, geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Mainland Australia is regarded as its co ...

and

Polynesia Polynesia ( , ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are called Polynesians. They have many things in ...

. These are large trees or shrubs. In

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, they are often called "ash trees" or "sarsaparilla trees". This is rather misleading however; among the

s, ''Alphitonia'' is not closely related to the true ash trees (''

Fraxinus ''Fraxinus'' (), commonly called ash, is a genus of plants in the olive and lilac family, Oleaceae, and comprises 45–65 species of usually medium-to-large trees, most of which are deciduous trees, although some Subtropics, subtropical specie ...

'' of the

asterid Asterids are a large clade (monophyletic group) of flowering plants, composed of 17 orders and more than 80,000 species, about a third of the total flowering plant species. The asterids are divided into the unranked clades lamiids (8 orders) and ...

s), and barely at all to the

monocot Monocotyledons (), commonly referred to as monocots, (Lilianae ''sensu'' Chase & Reveal) are flowering plants whose seeds contain only one Embryo#Plant embryos, embryonic leaf, or cotyledon. A monocot taxon has been in use for several decades, but ...

sarsaparilla vines (''

Smilax ''Smilax'' is a genus of about 300–350 species, found in the tropics and subtropics worldwide. They are climbing flowering plants, many of which are woody and/or thorny, in the monocotyledon family (biology), family Smilacaceae, native through ...

''). The name is derived from

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

''álphiton'' (, "

barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...

meal A meal is an occasion that takes place at a certain time and includes consumption of food. The English names used for specific meals vary, depending on the speaker's culture, the time of day, or the size of the meal. A meal is different from a ...

"), from the mealy quality of their fruits'

mesocarp Fruits are the mature ovary or ovaries of one or more flowers. They are found in three main anatomical categories: aggregate fruits, multiple fruits, and simple fruits. Fruitlike structures may develop directly from the seed itself rather tha ...

s.. Another interpretation is that "baked barley meal" alludes to the mealy red covering around the hard cells in the fruit.

Alexander Floyd Alexander Geoffrey Floyd (1 April 1926 – 12 December 2022) was an Australian botanist with an expert knowledge of rainforest plants, particularly the rainforest trees of New South Wales. He has worked with the New South Wales Forestry Commis ...

, ''Rainforest Trees of Mainland South-eastern Australia'', Inkata Press 2008, page 322 The lanceolate coriaceous leaves are alternate, about 12 cm long. The margins are smooth. Venation is

pinnate Pinnation (also called pennation) is the arrangement of feather-like or multi-divided features arising from both sides of a common axis. Pinnation occurs in biological morphology, in crystals, such as some forms of ice or metal crystals, and ...

. They have white to rusty complex hairs on the under surface. The

petiole Petiole may refer to: *Petiole (botany), the stalk of a leaf, attaching the blade to the stem *Petiole (insect anatomy) In entomology, petiole is the technical term for the narrow waist of some hymenopteran insects, especially ants, bees, and ...

is less than a quarter the length of a blade.

Stipule In botany, a stipule is an outgrowth typically borne on both sides (sometimes on just one side) of the base of a leafstalk (the petiole (botany), petiole). They are primarily found among dicots and rare among monocots. Stipules are considered part ...

s are present. The small

flower Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...

s form terminal or axillary clusters of small creamy blossoms during spring. The flowers are bisexual.

Hypanthium In angiosperms, a hypanthium or floral cup is a structure where basal portions of the Sepal, calyx, the petal, corolla, and the stamens form a cup-shaped tube. It is sometimes called a floral tube, a term that is also used for corolla tube and cal ...

is present. The flowers show 5 sepals, 5 petals and 5 stamens. The ovary is inferior. The

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants (angiosperms) that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propaga ...

s are ovoid, blackish non-fleshy capsules, with one seed per

locule A locule (: locules) or loculus (; : loculi) is a small cavity or compartment within an organ or part of an organism (animal, plant, or fungus). In angiosperms (flowering plants), the term ''locule'' usually refers to a chamber within an ovary ...

. ''Alphitonia'' species are used as food plants by the

larva A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...

the hepialid

moth Moths are a group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not Butterfly, butterflies. They were previously classified as suborder Heterocera, but the group is Paraphyly, paraphyletic with respect to butterflies (s ...

Aenetus mirabilis ''Aenetus mirabilis'' is a moth of the family Hepialidae. It is known from Queensland. The larvae feed on ''Alphitonia ''Alphitonia'' is a genus of arborescent flowering plants comprising about 15 species, constituting part of the buckthorn fa ...

'', which feed only on these trees. They burrow horizontally into the trunk, then vertically down.

Species

15 species are accepted. * '' Alphitonia carolinensis'' Hosok. – Caroline Islands * ''

Alphitonia excelsa ''Alphitonia excelsa'', commonly known as the red ash or soap tree, is a species of tree in the family Rhamnaceae. It is endemic to Australia, being found in New South Wales, Queensland, Northern Territory and the northeastern tip of Western Aus ...

'' (Fenzl) Reissek ex

Benth. George Bentham (22 September 1800 – 10 September 1884) was an English botanist, described by the weed botanist Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century". Born into a distinguished family, he initially studie ...

– soap tree, red ash -

* '' Alphitonia ferruginea'' Merr. & L.M.Perry – New Guinea * '' Alphitonia franguloides'' A.Gray – Fiji and Tonga * '' Alphitonia incana'' (Roxb.) Teijsm. & Binn. ex Kurz – Sulawesi, Maluku, New Guinea, and Solomon Islands * '' Alphitonia macrocarpa'' Mansf. – New Guinea and Bismarck Archipelago * '' Alphitonia marquesensis'' F.Br. – ''makee'' –

Marquesas Islands The Marquesas Islands ( ; or ' or ' ; Marquesan language, Marquesan: ' (North Marquesan language, North Marquesan) and ' (South Marquesan language, South Marquesan), both meaning "the land of men") are a group of volcano, volcanic islands in ...

* ''

Alphitonia neocaledonica ''Alphitonia'' is a genus of arborescent flowering plants comprising about 15 species, constituting part of the buckthorn family (Rhamnaceae). They occur in tropical regions of Southeast Asia, Oceania and Polynesia. These are large trees or shrub ...

'' (Schltr.) Guillaumin –

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

* '' Alphitonia oblata'' A.R.Bean – Queensland * '' Alphitonia petriei'' Braid & C.T.White – pink ash, white ash – Australia * '' Alphitonia philippinensis'' Braid – Vietnam, Cambodia, Hainan, Philippines, and Borneo * ''

Alphitonia pomaderroides ''Alphitonia'' is a genus of arborescent flowering plants comprising about 15 species, constituting part of the buckthorn family (Rhamnaceae). They occur in tropical regions of Southeast Asia, Oceania and Polynesia. These are large trees or shrub ...

'' – northeastern Northern Territory and northern Queensland * '' Alphitonia ponderosa'' Hillebr. – ''kauila'' –

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

* '' Alphitonia whitei'' Braid – red ash – Australia * ''

Alphitonia zizyphoides ''Alphitonia zizyphoides'' is a species of flowering plant in the buckthorn family, Rhamnaceae. It is a tree native to the Cook Islands, Fiji, Niue, the Samoan Islands, the Society Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu, and Wallis and Futuna Wallis and ...

'' (Biehler) A.Gray – ''toi'' – Cook Islands, Fiji, Niue, Samoa, Society Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu, and Wallis & Futuna

References

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1955527 Rhamnaceae genera Taxa described in 1840 Taxa named by Stephan Endlicher