''Buchanania'' is a genus of plants in the mango and cashew family

Anacardiaceae The Anacardiaceae, commonly known as the cashew family or sumac family, are a family of flowering plants, including about 83 genera with about 860 known species. Members of the Anacardiaceae bear fruits that are drupes and in some cases produce ...

, native to areas from India to southern China, and southwards to northern Australia and the western Pacific.

Description

This genus consists of trees with , unlobed leaves arranged alternately on the twigs. Flowers are produced in or terminal

panicle In botany, a panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a p ...

s. Flowers are

bisexual Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...

, i.e. they have both male and female organs. They usually have 5 lobes and 5 petals, sometimes 4 or 6, and are pale green to white. There are 10

stamen The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...

s and 4–6

carpel Gynoecium (; ; : gynoecia) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl of a flower; it consists of (one or more ...

s, only one of which is fertile. Fruits are more or less lens-shaped

drupe In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is a type of fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pip'' (UK), ''pit'' (US), ''stone'', or ''pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed ...

s with a bony or woody , and contain a single seed. Unlike other genera in the family, ''Buchanania'' does not appear to cause contact dermatitis.

Taxonomy

The genus ''Buchanania'' was erected in 1801 by German botanist

Kurt Polycarp Joachim Sprengel Kurt Polycarp Joachim Sprengel (3 August 1766 – 15 March 1833) was a German botanist and physician who published an influential multivolume history of medicine, ''Versuch einer pragmatischen Geschichte der Arzneikunde'' (1792–99 in four vol ...

based on a collection of plant material by

Francis Buchanan-Hamilton Francis Buchanan (15 February 1762 – 15 June 1829), later known as Francis Hamilton but often referred to as Francis Buchanan-Hamilton, was a Scottish surgeon, surveyor and botanist who made significant contributions as a geographer and zoolo ...

from what is now

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

. The genus was named after the collector.

Distribution

The genus is native to areas from

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

and

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 ...

, extending to northern Australia and the western Pacific. The full distribution is as follows: *

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

: Assam, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, West Himalaya * China & East Asia: China South-Central, Hainan, Taiwan, *

Indo-China Mainland Southeast Asia (historically known as Indochina and the Indochinese Peninsula) is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to th ...

: Andaman Is., Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Nicobar Is., Thailand, Vietnam *

Malesia Malesia is a biogeographical region straddling the Equator and the boundaries of the Indomalayan and Australasian realms. It is a phytogeographical floristic region in the Paleotropical kingdom. It was first recognized as a distinct region ...

: Borneo, Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maluku, Philippines, Sulawesi, Sumatera *

Papuasia Papuasia is a Level 2 botanical region defined in the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD). It lies in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, in the Melanesia ecoregion of Oceania and Tropical Asia. It comprises th ...

: Bismarck Archipelago, New Guinea, Solomon Is. * Australia: Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia * Western Pacific: Caroline Is., Fiji, Samoa, Santa Cruz Is., Vanuatu

Species

Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online taxonomic database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. History Following the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew launched Plants of the World Online i ...

recognises 26 species in the genus, as follows: *''

Buchanania abrahamiana ''Buchanania'' is a genus of plants in the mango and cashew family Anacardiaceae, native to areas from India to southern China, and southwards to northern Australia and the western Pacific. Description This genus consists of trees with , un ...

'' – India *''

Buchanania amboinensis ''Buchanania'' is a genus of plants in the mango and cashew family Anacardiaceae, native to areas from India to southern China, and southwards to northern Australia and the western Pacific. Description This genus consists of trees with , un ...

'' –

Maluku Islands The Maluku Islands ( ; , ) or the Moluccas ( ; ) are an archipelago in the eastern part of Indonesia. Tectonics, Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located in West ...

, New Guinea, Solomon Islands *''

Buchanania arborescens ''Buchanania arborescens'', commonly known as the little gooseberry tree or sparrow's mango, is a small and slender tree native to seasonal tropical forests of northern Australia, Southeast Asia, and the Solomon Islands. The leaves are spirally ...

'' – India, Taiwan, tropical Asia, northern Australia, western Pacific *'' Buchanania attenuata'' –

Santa Cruz Islands The Santa Cruz Islands form an archipelago in Temotu Province, Solomon Islands. They lie approximately to the southeast of the Solomon Islands (archipelago), Solomon Islands archipelago, just north of the archipelago of Vanuatu and are con ...

, Fiji *'' Buchanania axillaris'' – India, Sri Lanka *'' Buchanania barberi'' – India *'' Buchanania engleriana'' – Caroline Islands *'' Buchanania evrardii'' – Cambodia *'' Buchanania ferruginea'' – India *'' Buchanania glabra'' – India, Indo-China *'' Buchanania insignis'' – Borneo, Philippines *'' Buchanania lanceolata'' – southwestern India, Myanmar *''

Buchanania lancifolia ''Buchanania'' is a genus of plants in the mango and cashew family Anacardiaceae, native to areas from India to southern China, and southwards to northern Australia and the western Pacific. Description This genus consists of trees with , un ...

'' – Andaman Islands, Bangladesh, Myanmar *''

Buchanania lanzan ''Buchanania lanzan'', commonly known as charoli nut, almondette, Cuddapah almond, calumpong, Hamilton mombin, is a deciduous tree in the family Anacardiaceae. The charoli tree is native to the Indian subcontinent, South Central China, and much ...

'' –

, southern China, Indo-China *'' Buchanania macrocarpa'' – Maluku Islands,

*'' Buchanania mangoides'' – Queensland *'' Buchanania merrillii'' – Samoa *'' Buchanania microphylla'' –

Hainan Hainan is an island provinces of China, province and the southernmost province of China. It consists of the eponymous Hainan Island and various smaller islands in the South China Sea under the province's administration. The name literally mean ...

, Philippines *'' Buchanania nitida'' – Philippines, Maluku Islands *''

Buchanania obovata ''Buchanania obovata'' is a small to medium-sized understorey tree in woodlands native to northern Australia, in particular in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. Common names include green plum and wild mango. Leaves are smooth, thick, lea ...

'' – northern Australia *'' Buchanania palawensis'' –

Palau Palau, officially the Republic of Palau, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the western Pacific Ocean. The Republic of Palau consists of approximately 340 islands and is the western part of the Caroline Islands ...

*''

Buchanania reticulata ''Buchanania'' is a genus of plants in the mango and cashew family Anacardiaceae, native to areas from India to southern China, and southwards to northern Australia and the western Pacific. Description This genus consists of trees with , un ...

'' – Indo-China *''

Buchanania sessifolia ''Buchanania'' is a genus of plants in the mango and cashew family Anacardiaceae, native to areas from India to southern China, and southwards to northern Australia and the western Pacific. Description This genus consists of trees with , un ...

'' –

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

, Indo-China, western

*''

Buchanania siamensis ''Buchanania'' is a genus of plants in the mango and cashew family Anacardiaceae, native to areas from India to southern China, and southwards to northern Australia and the western Pacific. Description This genus consists of trees with , un ...

'' – Indo-China *'' Buchanania splendens'' –

Andaman Islands The Andaman Islands () are an archipelago, made up of 200 islands, in the northeastern Indian Ocean about southwest off the coasts of Myanmar's Ayeyarwady Region. Together with the Nicobar Islands to their south, the Andamans serve as a mari ...

Nicobar Islands The Nicobar Islands are an archipelago, archipelagic island chain in the eastern Indian Ocean. They are located in Southeast Asia, northwest of Aceh on Sumatra, and separated from Thailand to the east by the Andaman Sea. Located southeast of t ...

, Sumatra, Borneo *'' Buchanania vitiensis'' – Fiji

Formerly placed here

The following names were previously recognised as species of ''Buchanania''. *''Buchanania cochinchinensis'' – now ''

Glycosmis cochinchinensis ''Glycosmis cochinchinensis'' is a species of tree in the family Rutaceae. It is native to China and Indochina. It was first described by João de Loureiro in 1790 as ''Toluifera cochinchinensis''. Adolf Engler transferred it to the genus ''Glyc ...

'' *''Buchanania yunnanensis'' – now '' Spondias pinnata'' *''Buchanania zeylanica'' – now ''

Mangifera zeylanica ''Mangifera zeylanica'', or Sri Lanka wild mango, is a wild species of mango relative Endemism, endemic to Sri Lanka. This stately tree is the tallest member of the mango genus, ''Mangifera'', and one of the two tallest trees in the family Anac ...

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q4982615 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Anacardiaceae genera