''Discaria'' is a genus of 6 species of
flowering plant
Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. They include all forbs (flowering plants without a woody stem), grasses and grass-like plants, a vast majority of ...
s in the family
Rhamnaceae
The Rhamnaceae are a large 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 species. The Rhamnaceae ...
, native to temperate regions of the
Southern Hemisphere, in
Australia,
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...
and
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the souther ...
.
They are
deciduous
In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, a ...
thorny
shrubs or small
tree
In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...
s growing to 2–5 m tall. They are also
non-legume nitrogen fixers.
Many of the world's ''Discaria'' species qualify as
xerophyte
A xerophyte (from Greek ξηρός ''xeros'' 'dry' + φυτόν ''phuton'' 'plant') is a species of plant that has adaptations to survive in an environment with little liquid water, such as a desert such as the Sahara or places in the Alps or th ...
s in the true sense of the term, and the Australian species are no exception. They frequently occur on porous or well-drained sites and on soils of low fertility. Some species can fix
nitrogen
Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at seve ...
from the atmosphere with the help of symbiotic bacteria (''
Frankia
''Frankia'' is a genus of nitrogen-fixing bacteria that live in symbiosis with actinorhizal plants, similar to the '' Rhizobium'' bacteria found in the root nodules of legumes in the family Fabaceae. ''Frankia'' also initiate the forming of ro ...
'') that form nodules in their roots.
Taxonomy
Species
''Discaria'' comprises the following species:
* ''
Discaria americana''
Gillies & Hook.
* ''
Discaria articulata''
(Phil.) Miers
* ''
Discaria chacaye''
(G.Don) Tortosa
* ''
Discaria nitida''
Tortosa
* ''
Discaria pubescens''
(Brongn.) Druce
* ''
Discaria toumatou''
Raoul
Hybrids
The following hybrid has been described:
* ''Discaria'' × ''serratifolia''
Benth. & Hook.f. ex Mast.
Species names with uncertain taxonomic status
The status of the following species and hybrids is unresolved:
* ''Discaria'' × ''andina''
(Miers) Speg.
* ''Discaria aphylla''
Meyen
* ''Discaria parviflora''
Hook.f.
* ''Discaria pauciflora''
Hook.f.
* ''Discaria weddeliana''
(Miers) Escal.
References
External links
Rhamnaceae genera
{{Rhamnaceae-stub