''Sonchus brassicifolius'',

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely 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 a ...

''Dendroseris litoralis'', is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

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 daisy and sunflower family

Asteraceae Asteraceae () is a large family (biology), family of flowering plants that consists of over 32,000 known species in over 1,900 genera within the Order (biology), order Asterales. The number of species in Asteraceae is rivaled only by the Orchi ...

. It is a small evergreen tree species known as the cabbage tree. 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 ...

to the

Juan Fernández Islands The Juan Fernández Islands () are a sparsely inhabited series of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, reliant on tourism and fishing. Situated off the coast of Chile, they are composed of three main volcanic islands: Robinson Crusoe Island, R ...

, which lie in the southeast Pacific, off the west coast of Chile. It is native only to the tiny, volcanic

Robinson Crusoe Island Robinson Crusoe Island (, ) is the second largest of the Juan Fernández Islands, situated 670 km (362 nmi; 416 mi) west of San Antonio, Chile, San Antonio, Chile, in the South Pacific Ocean. It is the more populous of the inhabit ...

, home of the famed '' Juania australis'' and many other endemic plants. The species 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 ...

and has been brought back from the brink of extinction. It had been reduced to only a few individuals by feral goats on the island, and is still considered critically endangered.

Description

Younger trunks of ''Sonchus brassicifolius'' are ringed with pale leaf scars and distinctive rubbery, leathery leaves up to long. It grows into a small, gnarled tree with several somewhat palm-like crowns of very large, ovate leaves on whitish, green-spotted leaf stalks and pendent inflorescences of bright orange,

tassel A tassel is a finishing feature in fabric and clothing decoration. It is a universal ornament that is seen in varying versions in many cultures around the globe. History and use In the Hebrew Bible, the Lord spoke to Moses instructing him to ...

-like 'flowers' ( capitula). It is easy to cultivate and enjoys a cool, humid climate. It is hardy to light freezes and California coastal conditions.

Taxonomy

The species was first described in 1921 by

Carl Skottsberg Carl Johan Fredrik Skottsberg (1 December 1880 – 14 June 1963) was a Swedish botanist and explorer of Antarctica. Life Skottsberg was born in Karlshamn on 1 December 1880 the son of Carl Adolf Skottsberg a schoolmaster and his wife, Maria ...

as ''Dendroseris litoralis''. The genus ''Dendroseris'' was considered endemic to the Juan Fernández Islands. In 2012, based on

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

evidence, it was shown that ''Dendroseris'' was embedded within the genus ''Sonchus'', and all its species were transferred to that genus, with ''Dendroseris'' reduced to a subgenus. As the combination ''Sonchus litoralis'' had already been used for a different species, the

replacement name In biological nomenclature, a ''nomen novum'' (Latin for "new name"), replacement name (or new replacement name, new substitute name, substitute name) is a replacement scientific name that is created when technical, nomenclatural reasons have mad ...

''Sonchus brassicifolius'' was published.

Edibility

The very large leaves are edible and formed part of the diet of voluntary

castaway A castaway is a person who is cast adrift or ashore. While the situation usually happens after a shipwreck, some people voluntarily stay behind on a desert island, either to evade kidnapping, captors or the world in general. A person may also be ...

Alexander Selkirk Alexander Selkirk (167613 December 1721) was a Scottish privateer and Royal Navy officer who spent four years and four months as a castaway (1704–1709) after being marooned by his captain, initially at his request, on an uninhabited island ...

- the possible inspiration for

Daniel Defoe Daniel Defoe (; born Daniel Foe; 1660 – 24 April 1731) was an English writer, merchant and spy. He is most famous for his novel ''Robinson Crusoe'', published in 1719, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its number of translati ...

's character

Robinson Crusoe ''Robinson Crusoe'' ( ) is an English adventure novel by Daniel Defoe, first published on 25 April 1719. Written with a combination of Epistolary novel, epistolary, Confessional writing, confessional, and Didacticism, didactic forms, the ...

- during his sojourn on one of the Juan Fernandez Islands.

Hummingbird pollination

The capitula with their large orange corollas are

hummingbird Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the Family (biology), biological family Trochilidae. With approximately 366 species and 113 genus, genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but most species are found in Cen ...

pollinated. The nectar composition of ''Sonchus brassicifolius'' has large quantities of

sucrose Sucrose, a disaccharide, is a sugar composed of glucose and fructose subunits. It is produced naturally in plants and is the main constituent of white sugar. It has the molecular formula . For human consumption, sucrose is extracted and refined ...

(73%), 15%

fructose Fructose (), or fruit sugar, is a Ketose, ketonic monosaccharide, simple sugar found in many plants, where it is often bonded to glucose to form the disaccharide sucrose. It is one of the three dietary monosaccharides, along with glucose and gal ...

and 10.9%

glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecular formula , which is often abbreviated as Glc. It is overall the most abundant monosaccharide, a subcategory of carbohydrates. It is mainly made by plants and most algae d ...

Gallery

File:Seedling of Dendroseris litoralis - The Cabbage Tree..jpg, Seedling, cultivated plant File:Dendroseris litoralis canopy from beneath Kew.jpg, Canopy, viewed from beneath, of mature specimen flowering in Temperate House,

Kew Gardens Kew Gardens is a botanical garden, botanic garden in southwest London that houses the "largest and most diverse botany, botanical and mycology, mycological collections in the world". Founded in 1759, from the exotic garden at Kew Park, its li ...

(flowers not visible in shot) File:Dendroseris litoralis cabbage-like crown Kew.jpg, Crown of large, edible, cabbage-like leaves that earned the species the common name of cabbage tree (Temperate House, Kew Gardens) File:Dendroseris litoralis petiole attachment Kew.jpg, Young stem, showing attachment of bases of long, deeply-grooved petioles (Temperate House, Kew Gardens) File:Dendroseris litoralis channelled petiole Kew.jpg, View from above of base of single petiole, showing deep channel and attachment to stem by crescent-shaped base (Temperate House, Kew Gardens) File:Dendroseris litoralis petiole base fallen leaf Kew.jpg, Crescent-shaped base of petiole of fallen leaf showing structure where formerly attached to young trunk (Temperate House, Kew Gardens) File:Dendroseris litoralis young trunk leaf scars Kew.jpg, Young trunk bearing distinctive pale, annular leaf scars (Temperate House, Kew Gardens): note bud in centre of image File:Dendroseris litoralis palmate leaf venation upper surface Kew.jpg, Upper surface of leaf at junction of petiole and lamina, showing palmate venation File:Dendroseris litoralis Kew texture top leaf tip.jpg, Detail of upper surface of leaf tip, showing glossy, rubbery texture and veins patterned with elongate spots (Temperate House, Kew Gardens) File:Dendroseris litoralis leaf venation detail back-lit Kew.jpg, Part of upper surface of single leaf, back-lit to reveal fine detail of venation (Temperate House, Kew Gardens) File:Dendroseris litoralis spotted leaf vein Kew.jpg, Detail of upper surface of leaf midrib (back-lit), showing distinctive, elongate, green spots File:Juan-Fernandez-comp-Humming-bird 820.jpg, Wild specimen, flowering profusely in its native

Juan Fernandez Islands ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. The name is of Hebrew origin and has the meaning "God has been gracious." It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking countries around the world and in the Philipp ...

File:Dendroseris litoralis capitulum interior Kew.jpg, Interior of pendent, yellow-orange 'flower' (capitulum) (Temperate House, Kew Gardens)

References

External links

The Cabbage Tree - ''Dendroseris litoralis''

brassicifolius Critically endangered plants Endemic flora of the Juan Fernández Islands Robinson Crusoe Island Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Cichorieae-stub