''Gibbsia'' is a genus of

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 belonging to the family

Urticaceae The Urticaceae are a family, the nettle family, of flowering plants. The family name comes from the genus ''Urtica''. The Urticaceae include a number of well-known and useful plants, including nettles in the genus ''Urtica'', ramie (''Boehmeria ...

. Its native range is

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

.D. J. Mabberley The genus name of ''Gibbsia'' is in honour of

Lilian Gibbs Lilian Suzette Gibbs (1870–1925) was a British botanist who worked for the British Museum in London and was an authority on mountain ecosystems. Education She studied initially at Swanley Horticultural College in Kent, UK (1899-1901) and th ...

(1870–1925), a British botanist, it was first published and described in 'A Contribution to the Phytogeography and Flora of the

Arfak Mountains The Arfak Mountains () is a mountain range found on the Bird's Head Peninsula in the Province of West Papua, Indonesia. The term "arfak" came from ''arfk'' the language of the coastal Biak people, meaning "people who sleep over fire", to refer ...

' (Fl. Arfak Mts.) on page 129 in 1917. Known species, according to Kew; * '' Gibbsia carstenszensis'' * '' Gibbsia insignis'' (the type species)

Description

Mainly shrubs,

Klaus Kubitzki Klaus Kubitzki (3 May 1933 – 5 December 2022) was a German botanist. He was Emeritus professor in the University of Hamburg, at the Herbarium Hamburgense. He is known for his work on the systematics and biogeography of the angiosperms, particu ...

, Jens G. Rohwer and Volker Bittrich (Editors)

James W. Byng James W. Byng is a British botanist who is managing director and scientific curator at Hortus Botanicus DelftTU Delft Botanic Garden, an associate of Plant Gateway, and a visiting research fellow at Naturalis Biodiversity Center. He was tra ...

has alternate leaves, which are

crenate A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, fl ...

(wavy toothed) and serrate (saw toothed). They are densely arachnoid (have appearance of cobwebs) below, so much that they look white underneath.M. M. J. van Balgooy (Rijksherbarium/Hortus Botanicus) They are

dioecious Dioecy ( ; ; adj. dioecious, ) is a characteristic of certain species that have distinct unisexual individuals, each producing either male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproduction is ...

(producing male or female gametes), the flowers are

monoecious Monoecy (; adj. monoecious ) is a sexual system in seed plants where separate male and female cones or flowers are present on the same plant. It is a monomorphic sexual system comparable with gynomonoecy, andromonoecy and trimonoecy, and contras ...

(having separate staminate and carpellate flowers which are always found on the same plant), in small axillary androgynous cymules, minute bracts, ovate,

scarious This glossary of botanical terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to botany and plants in general. Terms of plant morphology are included here as well as at the more specific Glossary of plant morphology and Glossary ...

(Dry and membranous). The male flowers have

perianth The perianth (perigonium, perigon or perigone in monocots) is the non-reproductive part of the flower. It is a structure that forms an envelope surrounding the sexual organs, consisting of the calyx (sepals) and the corolla (petals) or tepal ...

s which are partite (divided to or nearly to the base), the 5 segments are valvate, ovate and have 5

stamens 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 filamen ...

, with a rudimentary ovary. The female flowers have a perianth which is broadly cupular, persistent and adinate at the base of the ovoid and very oblique (slanting)

ovary The ovary () is a gonad in the female reproductive system that produces ova; when released, an ovum travels through the fallopian tube/ oviduct into the uterus. There is an ovary on the left and the right side of the body. The ovaries are end ...

. The stigma is sub-apical (near tip),

sessile Sessility, or sessile, may refer to: * Sessility (motility), organisms which are not able to move about * Sessility (botany), flowers or leaves that grow directly from the stem or peduncle of a plant * Sessility (medicine), tumors and polyps that ...

(flowers growing straight from the stem) and discoid (resembling a disc or plate). The fruit (or seed capsule) maybe

drupaceous 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 ...

(having a fleshy-like outer part), small and very oblique.

Habitat

They are found on the mountains of western New Guinea.

References

External links

has an illustration of the plant {{Taxonbar, from=Q5558984 Urticaceae Urticaceae genera Plants described in 1917 Flora of New Guinea