Corynocarpus

Karakabaum ( Corynocarpus laevigatus ), illustration.

The club fruits ( Corynocarpus ) are the only plant genus of the lobe fruit plants ( Corynocarpaceae ) family within the order of pumpkin -like ( Cucurbitales ). Club fruit is the direct translation of the botanical name Corynocarpus (Greek: korýne for club and carpus for fruit). They are native to the Malay Archipelago and Oceania.

Description

There are evergreen trees or shrubs. The whole plant, except the fruit flesh is very toxic. The alternate or spirally arranged leaves are petiolate, simple, leathery and entire. Stipules are present or absent.

You have doldenrispige or racemose inflorescences. Unlike most taxa of the order of the pumpkin -like ( Cucurbitales ) the flowers are not getrenntgeschlechtig. The hermaphrodite, radial symmetry, small flowers are fünfzählig. There are five free sepals and petals present. There are two circles, each with five stamens, which are not fused to one another, but with the base of the petals and only the inner circle of stamens is fertile. The two carpels are fused into a superior ovaries.

Forming drupes, each containing only one seed.

Of ingredients, for example, flavonoids ( kaempferol ) and bitter glucosides are present.

Systematics and distribution

The distribution area are tropical hot temperate regions of the southwest Pacific region. The Corynocarpus species make their home in New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Queensland ( Australia ) and New Zealand. In Hawaii Corynocarpus laevigatus is an invasive plant.

The Gattungsmane Corynocarpus was Johann Reinhold Forster and in 1775 by Johann Georg Adam Forster Characteres Generum Plantarum Edn. 1: 31, t. 16 first published. Type genus is Corynocarpus laevigata JRForster & G.Forster. The family name was first published by Adolf Engler in Engler & Prantl, 1897.

The affiliation of species to the genus Corynocarpus has long been undisputed. But the position of the genus in the system of angiosperms has often been discussed, and this genus has been suggested already asked many families ( Anacardiaceae, Berberidaceae, Celastraceae, Cunoniaceae, Escalloniaceae, Malpighiaceae, Melastomataceae, Myrsinaceae, Rosaceae, Sapindaceae, Saxifragaceae, Sterculiaceae, Theophrastaceae ). The genus was considered most of the time very isolated and this was presented in a separate mono generic order Corynocarpales of Takhtajan 1997. Currently Corynocarpus alone forms the family of Corynocarpaceae and this is part of a larger order Cucurbitales.

In the species or family of Corynocarpus Corynocarpaceae there are only five kinds and two subspecies (or six types ):

  • Corynocarpus cribbianus ( FMBailey ) LSSM: New Guinea and northeastern Queensland.
  • Corynocarpus dissimilis Hemsl. It occurs only in New Caledonia.
  • Karakabaum (. Corynocarpus laevigatus JRForst & G.Forst. ): It thrives in New Zealand, in the lowland and coastal areas of the North Island, in the northern part of the South Island on Raoul Island and the Chatham Islands.
  • Corynocarpus similis Hemsl. Has the widest distribution: Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, New Britain, New Ireland and the Bismarck Archipelago.
  • Corynocarpus rupestris Guymer: With two subspecies in separate areas of Australia: Corynocarpus rupestris subsp. arborescens Guymer: It occurs only in southeastern Queensland.
  • Corynocarpus Guymer rupestris subsp. rupestris: It occurs only in northeastern New South Wales.

The, as determined by molecular genetic data, family relationships are also reflected in the present distribution of the species resist.

Cladogram:

Corynocarpus laevigatus

Corynocarpus dissimilis

Corynocarpus cribbianus

Corynocarpus rupestris subsp. rupestris

Corynocarpus rupestris subsp. arborescens

Corynocarpus similis

Chromosome numbers: C. cribbianus, C. dissimilis, C. laevigatus, and C. similis are diploid (2n = 46). C. rupestris is a tetraploid (2n = 92).

Use

Karakabaum (. Corynocarpus laevigatus JRForst & G.Forst. ): The Karaka fruit of Karakabaum ( Corynocarpus laevigatus ), called by the Māori " kopia ", can be eaten. The flesh can be eaten raw, and should taste like overripe apricots. The core, " Karaka nut", the seed is very poisonous, it is (to be cooked ) but edited by Māori in several steps and can be used as flour for baking bread afterwards. The seed contains 11 % protein and 58 % carbohydrates. The leaves of this species are used in folk medicine for healing wounds.

The white wood is used as a good firewood and now has no further use, but earlier built the Māori from canoes. An insecticide is derived from this type.

Swell

  • Description of the Corynocarpaceae family in APWebsite. (Section Description and systematics)
  • Description of the Corynocarpaceae family at DELTA by L. Watson & Dallwitz J. Murray. ( Description section )
  • GJ Harden: description in the Flora of New South Wales Online. ( Description section )
  • Steven J. Wagstaff & MI Dawson: Classification, origin, and patterns of diversification of Corynocarpus ( Corynocarpaceae ) inferred from DNA sequences, In: Systematic Botany, 25, 2000 p 134-149. . doi: 10.2307/2666679 ( section distribution and systematics)
  • ML Matthews and PK Endress: Comparative floral structure and systematics in Cucurbitales ( Corynocarpaceae, Coriariaceae, Tetramelaceae, Datiscaceae Begoniaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Anisophylleaceae ), Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 145, 2004, pp. 129-185. .
Rosids Ovary (botany) Digital Object Identifier
204067
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