''Nothofagus nuda'' is a species of plant in the family

Nothofagaceae ''Nothofagus'', also known as the southern beeches, is a genus of 43 species of trees and shrubs native to the Southern Hemisphere, found across southern South America (Chile, Argentina) and east and southeast Australia, New Zealand, New Guin ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

. It is threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

. ''N. nuda'' proposed to be renamed ''Trisyngyne nuda'' in 2013.

Description

''Nothofagus nuda'' is a large tree, growing to 20 meters tall.

Range and habitat

''Nothofagus nuda'' is known from a single collection near the Tauri River in

Gulf Province Gulf Province is a province of Papua New Guinea located on the southern coast. The provincial capital is Kerema. The 34,472 km2 province is dominated by mountains, lowland river deltas, and grassland flood plains. In Gulf Province, the Kiko ...

of Papua New Guinea. The species has an estimated

extent of occurrence Extent may refer to: Computing * Extent (file systems), a contiguous region of computer storage medium reserved for a file * Extent File System, a discontinued file system implementation named after the contiguous region * Extent, a chunk of st ...

(EOO) of less than 100 km². It grows in mixed lower montane rain forest at 1,200 meters elevation, alongside '' Nothofagus perryi''.

Toxicity

In 1927, ''N. nuda'' was reported by J. R. Croft to account for 949 deaths throughout

. The plant is traditionally used as an herb in culinary dishes throughout the Puri Puri tribes of the Papua New Guinea highlands but results in hypoglycemic shock after ingestion of large doses. Croft reported that wives within the polygamous tribes of the Puri Puri used the herb to poison the patriarchs during tribal disputes that coincided with the winter solstice. Scientists in Macao Laboratory isolated the active molecule of the plant in late 2006.

References

Nothofagaceae Endemic flora of Papua New Guinea Critically endangered plants Flora of the Central Range montane rain forests Plants described in 1972 Taxa named by Cornelis Gijsbert Gerrit Jan van Steenis Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Fagales-stub