''Seemannaralia gerrardii'', commonly known as the wild-maple or mock carrot tree, is a species 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 ...

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 commonly called the ginseng family. The morphology of Araliaceae varies widely ...

. It is the sole member of genus ''Seemannaralia'', and 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 ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, where it occurs in the

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape ( ; ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, and its largest city is Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth). Due to its climate and nineteenth-century towns, it is a common location for tourists. It is also kno ...

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

Limpopo Limpopo () is the northernmost Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River, which forms the province's western and northern borders. The term Limpopo is derived from Rivombo (Livombo/Lebombo), a ...

and

Mpumalanga Mpumalanga () is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Nguni languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It shares bor ...

provinces. It was originally included in genus ''

Cussonia ''Cussonia'' is a genus of plants of the family Araliaceae, which is native to the Afrotropics. It originated in Africa and has its center of distribution in South Africa and the Mascarene Islands. Due to their striking habit, they are a conspi ...

''. ''Seemann-'' and ''gerrardii'' commemorate

Berthold Seemann Berthold Carl Seemann (25 February 1825, in Kingdom of Hanover – 10 October 1871, in Nicaragua) was a German botanist. He travelled widely and collected and described plants from the Pacific and South America. In 1844 he travelled to the Unit ...

and

William Gerrard William is a masculine given name of Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era. It is ...

respectively, while -''aralia'' suggests the family or its type genus, ''

Aralia ''Aralia'' , or spikenard, is a genus of the family Araliaceae, consisting of 68 accepted species of deciduous or evergreen trees, shrubs, and rhizomatous herbaceous perennials. The genus is native to Asia and the Americas, with most species oc ...

''.

Description

A short squat tree of open rocky situations, or a tall tree of forest and forest edge. The rough grey bark is deeply cracked. As with genus ''

'' the leaves are clustered at the ends of branches. The leaf shape is characteristic: maple-like, palmate and 3 to 7 lobed. Leaves turn yellow in autumn.

Flowers and fruit

The small, yellowish green flowers are produced in autumn, in axillary and terminal panicles of umbels. The oval flower petals have an intricate estivation. The superior ovary is 1 or 2- locular, and much compressed laterally. The purplish drupes appear in winter. They are of a flattened, elliptic shape, with lateral veins.

Gallery

image:Seemannaralia gerrardii.jpg, Panicle of flower umbels image:Seemannaralia gerrardii, crop.jpg, Close-up of two flower umbels

References

Araliaceae Monotypic Apiales genera {{Araliaceae-stub