''Gustavia dodsonii'' is a species of
woody plant
A woody plant is a plant that produces wood as its structural tissue and thus has a hard stem. In cold climates, woody plants further survive winter or dry season above ground, as opposed to Herbaceous plant, herbaceous plants that die back to t ...
in the Monkeypot Family (
Lecythidaceae
The Lecythidaceae ( ) comprise a family of about 20 genera and 250–300 species of woody plants native to tropical South America, Africa (including Madagascar), Asia and Australia.
Well known members of the family include the cannonball tree ...
). It is found only in
Ecuador
Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...
. Its natural
habitat
In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...
s are subtropical or tropical moist lowland
forest
A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...
s and subtropical or tropical moist
montane forest
Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures lapse rate, fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is ...
s. Its most remarkable feature are its seeds, which can measure up to 2.9 inches (74 mm) in length by up to 2.25 inches (58mm) in diameter.
[{Flora Neotropica Volume 21 Part 1 (Lecythidaceae) (August 1979) page 160]
References
dodsonii
Flora of Ecuador
Endangered plants
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot
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