- Dodonaea viscosa
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Dodonaea viscosa Foliage and flowers Scientific classification Kingdom: Plantae (unranked): Angiosperms (unranked): Eudicots (unranked): Rosids Order: Sapindales Family: Sapindaceae Genus: Dodonaea Species: D. viscosa Binomial name Dodonaea viscosa
Jacq.[1]Dodonaea viscosa is a species of flowering plant in the soapberry family, Sapindaceae, that has a cosmopolitan distribution in tropical, subtropical and warm temperate regions of Africa, the Americas, southern Asia and Australasia.
Contents
Description
D. viscosa is a shrub growing to 1–3 m (3.3–9.8 ft) tall,[2] rarely a small tree to 9 m (30 ft) tall. The leaves are simple elliptical, 4–7.5 cm (1.6–3.0 in) long and 1–1.5 cm (0.39–0.59 in) broad, alternate in arrangement, and secrete a resinous substance. The flowers are yellow to orange-red and produced in panicles about 2.5 cm (0.98 in) in length. The fruit is a capsule 1.5 cm (0.59 in) broad, red ripening brown, with two to four wings.[3]
Common names
The common name "hopbush" is used for D. viscosa specifically but also for the genus as a whole.
Common names reflect the widespread distribution of this species. In the desert southwest it is called desert hopbush or canyon hopbush, while gardeners plant hopseed, or hopseed bush.
Australian common names include: broad leaf hopbush, candlewood, giant hopbush, narrow leaf hopbush, sticky hopbush, native hop bush, soapwood, switchsorrel, wedge leaf hopbush, and native hop.[4]
Additional common names include: ʻaʻaliʻi, as well as ‘a‘ali‘i-ku ma kua and ‘a‘ali‘i ku makani in the Hawaiian language language; akeake (New Zealand); lampuaye (Guam); mesechelangel (Palau); chirca (Uruguay, Argentina); romerillo (Sonora, Mexico); jarilla (Southern Mexico); hayuelo (Colombia); ch'akatea (Bolivia); casol caacol (Seri).[5]
Uses
The wood is extremely tough and durable, and New Zealand's Māori have used akeake to fashion clubs and other weapons. The Māori name for the shrub, akeake, means "forever and ever".
Native Hawaiians made pou (house posts), laʻau melomelo (fishing lures), and ʻōʻō (digging sticks) from ʻaʻaliʻi wood and a red dye from the fruit.[6]
The cultivar 'Purpurea', with purple foliage, is widely grown as a garden shrub.
The Seri use the plant medicinally.[5]
Subspecies and synonyms
There are several subspecies as follows:[7]
- D. viscosa subsp. angustifolia (L.f.) J.G.West
- D. viscosa subsp. angustissima (DC.) J.G.West
- D. viscosa subsp. burmanniana (DC.) J.G.West
- D. viscosa subsp. cuneata (Sm.) J.G.West
- D. viscosa subsp. mucronata J.G.West
- D. viscosa subsp. spatulata (Sm.) J.G.West
- D. viscosa (L.) Jacq. subsp. viscosa
Botanical synonyms
- D. eriocarpa Sm.
- D. sandwicensis Sherff
- D. stenocarpa Hillebr.
References
- ^ "Dodonaea viscosa Jacq.". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. 2006-04-08. http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?14441. Retrieved 2009-11-21.
- ^ Selvam, V. (2007). "Trees and Shrubs of the Maldives" (PDF). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. http://www.fao.org/forestry/14636-1-0.pdf. Retrieved 2009-11-21.
- ^ Little Jr., Elbert L.; Roger G. Skolmen (1989). "ʻAʻaliʻi" (PDF). Common Forest Trees of Hawaii. United States Forest Service. http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/forestry/trees/CommonTreesHI/CFT_Dodonaea_viscosa.pdf. Retrieved 2009-11-21.
- ^ Robson, P. J. 1993. Checklist of Australian Trees.
- ^ a b Felger, R. S. and M. B. Moser, 1985, People of the Desert and Sea. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, AZ.
- ^ Medeiros, A. C.; C.F. Davenport; C.G. Chimera (1998) (PDF). Auwahi: Ethnobotany of a Hawaiian Dryland Forest. Cooperative National Park Resources Studies Unit, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. http://www.hear.org/naturalareas/auwahi/ethnobotany_of_auwahi.pdf.
- ^ "Dodonaea viscosa". Australian Plant Name Index (APNI), IBIS database. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government, Canberra. http://www.anbg.gov.au/cgi-bin/apni?TAXON_NAME=DODONAEA+VISCOSA. Retrieved 2009-05-26.
External links
- Germplasm Resources Information Network: Dodonaea viscosa
- USDA Plants Profile: Dodonaea viscosa
- Plants of Hawaii: Dodonaea viscosa (numerous photos)
- Bermuda Dept. of Conservation Services page for Dodonaea viscosa
Gallery
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Flowers in Keesara, Ranga Reddy district, Andhra Pradesh, India
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Fruits in Narsapur, Medak, India
Categories:- Dodonaeoideae
- Trees of Australia
- Trees of New Zealand
- Trees of Arizona
- Flora of California
- Trees of Florida
- Trees of Hawaii
- Trees of Mexico
- Flora of Northwestern Mexico
- Trees of South Africa
- Trees of Cape Town
- Flora of the Tubuai Islands
- Trees of Bermuda
- Rosids of Western Australia
- Flora of the Northern Territory
- Flora of Queensland
- Flora of New South Wales
- Flora of South Australia
- Sapindales of Australia
- Plants described in 1760
- Garden plants of Australasia
- Garden plants of North America
- Ornamental trees
- Shrubs
- Drought-tolerant plants
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