''Schefflera'' is a genus 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

Araliaceae The Araliaceae are a family of flowering plants composed of about 43 genera and around 1500 species consisting of primarily woody plants and some herbaceous plants. The morphology of Araliaceae varies widely, but it is predominantly distinguisha ...

. With an estimated 600–900 species, the genus represents about half of its family. The plants are

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, shrubs or

liana A liana is a long- stemmed, woody vine that is rooted in the soil at ground level and uses trees, as well as other means of vertical support, to climb up to the canopy in search of direct sunlight. The word ''liana'' does not refer to a ...

s, growing tall, with woody stems, the absence of articulated pedicels and armaments, and palmately compound leaves. Several species are grown in pots as

houseplant A houseplant, sometimes known as a pot plant, potted plant, or an indoor plant, is an ornamental plant that is grown indoors. As such, they are found in places like residences and offices, mainly for decorative purposes. Common houseplants are us ...

s, most commonly ''

Schefflera actinophylla ''Heptapleurum actinophyllum'' (formerly '' Schefflera actinophylla'') is a tree in the family Araliaceae. It is native to tropical rainforests and gallery forests in northern and north-eastern Queensland coasts and the Northern Territory of Aus ...

'' (umbrella tree) and ''

Schefflera arboricola ''Heptapleurum arboricola'' (syn. ''Schefflera arboricola'', ) is a flowering plant in the family Araliaceae, native to Taiwan and Hainan Province, China. Its common name is dwarf umbrella tree, as it resembles a smaller version of the umbrel ...

'' (dwarf umbrella tree). Numerous

cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture ...

s have been selected for various characters, most popularly for

variegated Variegation is the appearance of differently coloured zones in the leaves and sometimes the stems and fruit of plants. Species with variegated individuals are sometimes found in the understory of tropical rainforests, and this habitat is the s ...

or purple foliage. ''Schefflera'' species are used as food plants by the

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. Th ...

e of some Lepidopteran species including ''

Batrachedra arenosella ''Batrachedra arenosella'', the armoured scale eating caterpillar or the coconut moth, is a species of moth of the family Batrachedridae. It was first described by Francis Walker using specimens collected in Auckland, New Zealand. It has been hy ...

'' (recorded on ''S. stellata''). ''

'' and ''

'' can be used to attract birds. The genus is named in honor of Johann Peter Ernst von Scheffler (born in 1739), physician and botanist of

Gdańsk Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...

, and later of Warsaw, who contributed plants to Gottfried Reyger for Reygers book, 'Tentamen Florae Gedanensis'.

Fossil record

Two

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

fruits of †''Schefflera dorofeevii'' have been extracted from bore hole samples of the Middle Miocene fresh water deposits in Nowy Sacz Basin,

West Carpathians The Western Carpathians are a mountain range and geomorphological province that forms the western part of the Carpathian Mountains. The mountain belt stretches from the Low Beskids range of the Eastern Carpathians along the border of Poland w ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

Systematics

The

circumscription Circumscription may refer to: *Circumscribed circle * Circumscription (logic) *Circumscription (taxonomy) *Circumscription theory The circumscription theory is a theory of the role of warfare in state formation in political anthropology, created ...

of the genus has varied greatly. Phylogenetic studies have shown that the widely used broad circumscription as a pantropical genus is

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage of organisms or other evolving elements that is of mixed evolutionary origin. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as homoplasies, which are explained as a result of conver ...

, but it remains to be seen how this will affect the classification of the genus. Molecular analyses have recovered five polyphyletic clades of ''Schefflera'', all of which are geographically isolated from one another yet share similar traits indicating

parallel evolution Parallel evolution is the similar development of a trait in distinct species that are not closely related, but share a similar original trait in response to similar evolutionary pressure.Zhang, J. and Kumar, S. 1997Detection of convergent and paral ...

. These clades are to be split into separate genera, primarily along geographical lines, with ''Schefflera'' in the strict sense to consist of eight species restricted to the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

islands. The old ''

Didymopanax ''Didymopanax'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araliaceae, native to southern Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and South America. It was resurrected from ''Schefflera'' in 2020. Species The following species are accepted: * ...

'' Decne. & Planch., 1854 genus was resurrected in 2020 to welcome the 37 American species of ''Schefflera'' J.R. et G. Forst..

Species

Taxonomy

The genus has had a turbulent taxonomic history; the list of

synonyms A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are ...

includes: * ''Actinomorphe'' (

Miq. Friedrich Anton Wilhelm Miquel (24 October 1811 – 23 January 1871) was a Dutch botanist, whose main focus of study was on the flora of the Dutch East Indies. Early life Miquel was born in Neuenhaus and studied medicine at the University of Gro ...

)

* ''Actinophyllum''

Ruiz The Spanish surname Ruiz originates from the Germanic personal name "Hrodric" which is composed of the elements "Hrōd", meaning "renown", and "rīc", meaning "power(ful)", thus "famous ruler". Ruiz is a patronymic from the personal name Ruy, a sho ...

& Pav. * ''Agalma''

* ''Brassaia''

Endl. Stephan Ladislaus Endlicher also known as Endlicher István László (24 June 1804, Bratislava (Pozsony) – 28 March 1849, Vienna) was an Austrian botanist, numismatist and Sinologist. He was a director of the Botanical Garden of Vienna. ...

* ''Cephaloschefflera'' (

Harms Harms surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Chris Harms (born 1956), Australian cricketer * Claus Harms (1778–1855), German evangelical minister * Daniil Harms (1905–1942), English transcription: Daniil Kharms, Russian writer * ...

)

Merr. Elmer Drew Merrill (October 15, 1876 – February 25, 1956) was an American botanist and taxonomist. He spent more than twenty years in the Philippines where he became a recognized authority on the flora of the Asia-Pacific region. Through ...

* ''Geopanax'' Hemsl. * ''Heptapleurum'' Gaertn. * ''Nesopanax'' Seem. * ''Parapanax''

* ''Paratropia'' ( Blume)

DC. Augustin Pyramus (or Pyrame) de Candolle (, , ; 4 February 17789 September 1841) was a Swiss botanist. René Louiche Desfontaines launched de Candolle's botanical career by recommending him at a herbarium. Within a couple of years de Candolle ...

* ''Scheffleropsis'' Ridl. * ''Sciadophyllum''

P.Browne Patrick Browne (1720–1790) was an Irish physician and botanist. Career Browne was born in Woodstock, County Mayo in 1720, sent to relatives on Antigua in 1737 and returned to Europe due to ill health after two years. He studied medicine, na ...

* ''Tupidanthus'' Hook.f. & Thomson The list of former synonyms includes: * '' Astropanax'' Seem. * ''

Crepinella ''Crepinella'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araliaceae, native to tropical South America. It was resurrected from ''Schefflera'' in 2019. Species The following species are accepted: *''Crepinella acaropunctata'' *''Crepinella a ...

'' Marchal * ''

Decne. Joseph Decaisne (7 March 1807 – 8 January 1882) was a French botanist and agronomist. He became an ''aide-naturaliste'' to Adrien-Henri de Jussieu (1797-1853), who served as the chair of rural botany. It was during this time that he began to st ...

& Planch. * ''

Neocussonia ''Neocussonia'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Araliaceae. Its native range is Tanzania to s. Africa and Madagascar. It is also found in the Cape Provinces, KwaZulu-Natal, the Northern Provinces (regions of South Africa), ...

'' Hutch. * ''

Plerandra ''Plerandra'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araliaceae that has long been considered a synonym of ''Schefflera'', which has been a polyphyletic group. Species Species include: * '' Plerandra actinostigma'' (A.C. Sm. & B.C. Stone) ...

A.Gray Asa Gray (November 18, 1810 – January 30, 1888) is considered the most important American botanist of the 19th century. His '' Darwiniana'' was considered an important explanation of how religion and science were not necessarily mutually exc ...

- synonyms: ''Bakeria'' Seem., ''Dizygotheca'' N.E.Br., ''Octotheca'' R.Vig.

References

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q133351 Apiales genera Plants used in bonsai