Eidothea hardeniana
| Eidothea hardeniana | |
|---|---|
| File:Eidothea hardeniana Nightcap Oak leaves.jpg | |
| Nightcap Oak leaves at Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | |
| (unranked): | |
| (unranked): | |
| Order: | |
| Family: | |
| Subfamily: | |
| Genus: | |
| Species: |
E. hardeniana
|
| Binomial name | |
| Eidothea hardeniana |
|
Lua error in Module:Taxonbar/candidate at line 22: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
Eidothea hardeniana, commonly named Nightcap Oak, is a species of trees up to 40 m (130 ft) tall, of the plant family Proteaceae, which botanist Robert Kooyman recognised as a new species only recently in 2000.[2][4][5] The species has an official listing as critically endangered on the Australian Commonwealth EPBC Act and as Endangered on the NSW Threatened Species Act.[1][4] The name hardeniana honours the botanist Gwen Harden. Phylogenetics studies now suggest it represents a basal branch of the Proteoid clade of the Proteaceae.
Distribution and habitat
The trees are only known to grow naturally in a single creek catchment in warm temperate rainforest in the Nightcap Range, northern New South Wales, Australia. They grow naturally in relatively poor, acidic volcanic soils, in an area of a high rainfall. Only around 100 wild plants are known.[2][5] Plants are in cultivation, including in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney.
Description
E. hardeniana trees have pale lichen covered bark typical of many species in the Warm Temperate Rainforests. Often a ring of coppice shoots surrounds the base of an adult tree, coppice and seedling leaves have spiny marginal teeth, while adult leaves have no teeth.[2]
Flowers are cream in clusters and smell of aniseed.
Fruits are large and rounded with a yellow green skin and a hard nut inside. The walls of the nut are ribbed, a feature unique to this genus in the family. The seed has a white center and it probably contains poisonous cyanogenic compounds like some species of Macadamia.[citation needed] These toxins do not deter rodents from eating through the hard nut and devouring the seeds, limiting the regeneration of this plant.
Flower photos
-
Eidothea hardeniana flower buds1.JPG
un-opened buds
-
Flowers
-
Eidothea hardeniana flower small.JPG
Flowers
-
Eidothea hardeniana flower and stem.JPG
flower growing directly from the main stem
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Eidothea hardeniana – Nightcap Oak, Species Profile and Threats Database, Department of the Environment and Heritage, Australia. Retrieved 14 Dec 2013
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
- National Recovery Plan (PDF file)fr:Eidothea
