Trochetiopsis ebenus

Saint Helena Ebony
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Rosids
Order: Malvales
Family: Malvaceae
Subfamily: Dombeyoideae
Genus: Trochetiopsis
Species: T. ebenus
Binomial name
Trochetiopsis ebenus
Cronk

Saint Helena ebony (Trochetiopsis ebenus) is a species of flowering plant that is endemic to the island of Saint Helena in the southern Atlantic Ocean. It is not related to the ebony of commerce (Diospyros spp.), but is instead a member of the mallow family, Malvaceae. Saint Helena ebony is now critically endangered in the wild, being reduced to two wild individuals on a cliff, but old roots are sometimes found washed out of eroding slopes (relicts of its former abundance). These are collected on the island a used for inlay work, an important craft on Saint Helena. A related species, the dwarf ebony (Trochetiopsis melanoxylon) is now completely extinct.

It can be propagated from cuttings and many island gardens now boast a fine ebony bush. It is related to the Saint Helena redwood (Trochetiopsis erythroxylon) and a hybrid between them (Trochetiopsis x benjamini) is also now often planted. Trochetiopsis ebenus has staminodes that are dark maroon or "black".

See also

Flora of Saint Helena

References


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 8/28/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.