''Hedycarya'' is a genus of about 16 species of flowering plants in the family

Monimiaceae The Monimiaceae is a family (biology), family of flowering plants in the magnoliid Order (biology), order Laurales.Peter F. Stevens (2001 onwards). "Monimiaceae" At: Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. At: Botanical Databases At: Missouri Botanical Gar ...

native to eastern Australia, New Zealand, and some

Pacific Islands The Pacific islands are a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean. They are further categorized into three major island groups: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Depending on the context, the term ''Pacific Islands'' may refer to one of several ...

. Plants in the genus ''Hedycarya'' are shrubs, or small to medium trees with sometimes toothed leaves. The male and female flowers cup-shaped and are borne on separate plants. Male flowers usually have 8

tepal A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of very ...

s and many

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 female flowers have 6 to 12 tepals with many

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. The fruit is a cluster of

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 ...

Description

Plants in the genus ''Hedycarya'' are shrubs, or small to medium trees with male and female flowers on separate plants. Its leaves are papery to slightly leathery, sometimes regularly and coarsely toothed. The flowers are borne in more or less cup-shaped,

raceme A raceme () or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate growth, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are ...

-like

cymes In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a main axis ( ped ...

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 in leaf axils or on the ends of branches, with up to 20 flowers. Male flowers usually have many stamens, the filaments very short to absent and female flowers have many carpels with a short, thick stigma and sometimes

staminode In botany, a staminode is an often rudimentary, sterile or abortive stamen, which means that it does not produce pollen.Jackson, Benjamin, Daydon; ''A Glossary of Botanic Terms with their Derivation and Accent''; Published by Gerald Duckworth & Co ...

s. The fruit is a loose to tight cluster of drupes.

Taxonomy

The genus was ''Hedycarya'' was first formerly described in 1776 by botanists

Johann Johann, typically a male given name, is the German form of ''Iohannes'', which is the Latin form of the Greek name ''Iōánnēs'' (), itself derived from Hebrew name '' Yochanan'' () in turn from its extended form (), meaning "Yahweh is Graciou ...

and

Georg Forster Johann George Adam Forster, also known as Georg Forster (; 27 November 1754 – 10 January 1794), was a German geography, geographer, natural history, naturalist, ethnology, ethnologist, travel literature, travel writer, journalist and revol ...

in ''

Characteres Generum Plantarum ''Characteres generum plantarum'' (complete title , "Characteristics of the types of plants collected, described, and delineated during a voyage to islands of the South Seas, in the years 1772–1775 by Johann Reinhold Forster and Georg Forster ...

''. The limit of the genus may require change as it appears paraphyletic in phylogenetic analyses, with the genera ''

Kibaropsis ''Kibaropsis'' is a monotypic genus of plant in the Monimiaceae family. It is endemic to New Caledonia. Its only species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or ...

'' and ''

Levieria ''Levieria'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Monimiaceae. They are dioecious trees or shrubs. It is native to Sulawesi, the Maluku Islands, New Guinea and Queensland (north-eastern Australia). The genus name of ''Levieria ...

'' nested in it.

Species

The names of 16 species of ''Hedycara'' are accepted by the

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 ...

as at May 2024. *'' Hedycarya alternifolia'' Hemsl. ( 'Eua (Tonga)) *''

Hedycarya angustifolia ''Hedycarya angustifolia'', commonly known as native mulberry, Australian mulberry, or djelwuck is a species of flowering plant in the family ''Monimiaceae'', and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is a shrub or small tree with elliptic or egg ...

A.Cunn. Allan Cunningham (13 July 1791 – 27 June 1839) was an English botanist and explorer, primarily known for his expeditions into uncolonised areas of eastern Australia to collect plants and report on the suitability of the land for grazing ...

– native mulberry, Australian mulberry (southeastern Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania) *'' Hedycarya aragoensis''

Jérémie Jérémie (; ) is a commune and capital city of the Grand'Anse department in Haiti. It had a population of about 134,317 at the 2015 census. It is relatively isolated from the rest of the country. The Grande-Anse River flows near the city. ...

(New Caledonia) *''

Hedycarya arborea ''Hedycarya'' is a genus of about 16 species of flowering plants in the family Monimiaceae native to eastern Australia, New Zealand, and some Pacific Islands. Plants in the genus ''Hedycarya'' are shrubs, or small to medium trees with sometimes t ...

'' J.R.Forst. & G.Forst. – pigeonwood, porokaiwhiri, poporokaiwhiri (New Zealand) *''

Hedycarya baudouinii ''Hedycarya'' is a genus of about 16 species of flowering plants in the family Monimiaceae native to eastern Australia, New Zealand, and some Pacific Islands. Plants in the genus ''Hedycarya'' are shrubs, or small to medium trees with sometimes t ...

'' Baill. (New Caledonia) *'' Hedycarya chrysophylla''

Perkins Perkins is a surname derived from the Anglo-Saxon corruption of the kin of Pierre (from Pierre kin to Pierrekin to Perkins), introduced into England by the Norman Conquest. It is found throughout mid- and southern England. Another derivation com ...

(New Caledonia) *'' Hedycarya cupulata'' Baill. (New Caledonia) *'' Hedycarya denticulata'' ( A.Gray) Perkins & Gilg (Samoan Islands and Tonga) *'' Hedycarya dorstenioides'' A.Gray (Fiji, Tonga, and Vanuatu) *'' Hedycarya engleriana'' S.Moore (New Caledonia) *'' Hedycarya erythrocarpa'' Perkins (New Caledonia) *''

Hedycarya loxocarya ''Hedycarya loxocarya'', commonly known as yellow beech is a species of flowering plant in the family ''Monimiaceae'', and is endemic to north-eastern Queensland. It is a small to medium tree with egg-shaped to elliptic leaves, and male and femal ...

'' (

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 ...

) W.D.Francis (northeastern Queensland) *'' Hedycarya parvifolia'' Perkins & Schltr. (New Caledonia) *'' Hedycarya perbracteolata'' Jérémie (New Caledonia) *'' Hedycarya rivularis'' Guillaumin (New Caledonia) *'' Hedycarya symplocoides'' S.Moore (New Caledonia)

References

Monimiaceae genera Dioecious plants Taxa named by Johann Reinhold Forster Taxa named by Georg Forster {{Laurales-stub