Pennantia
Genus of flowering plants
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pennantia is the sole genus in the plant family Pennantiaceae. In older classifications, it was placed in the family Icacinaceae.[4] Most authorities have recognised three or four species, depending on whether they recognised Pennantia baylisiana as a separate species from Pennantia endlicheri.[5] Botanist David Mabberley has recognised two species.[6]
| Pennantia | |
|---|---|
| Pennantia corymbosa | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Apiales |
| Family: | Pennantiaceae J.Agardh[1] |
| Genus: | Pennantia J.R.Forst. & G.Forst. |
| Type species | |
| Pennantia corymbosa J.R.Forst. & G.Forst. | |
| Synonyms[2] | |
|
Plectomirtha W.R.B.Oliv.[3] | |
The species are small to medium, sometimes multi-trunked trees. Leaves are alternate, leathery, and with entire or sometimes toothed margins. Inflorescences are terminal and flowers are functionally unisexual; the species are more or less dioecious.[5]
Pennantia species grow naturally in New Zealand, Norfolk Island, and eastern Australia. In Australia, P. cunninghamii grows across a broad latitudinal natural range (nearly 3,000 km (1,900 mi)), from the south coast of New South Wales northwards through to north eastern Queensland.[citation needed]
The genus name, Pennantia, is in honor of Thomas Pennant, an 18th-century Welsh zoologist and author.[citation needed]
Species
The following four species were recognised by New Zealand botanists Rhys O. Gardner and Peter J. de Lange in 2002.[5]
- Pennantia baylisiana, (W.R.B.Oliv.) G.T.S.Baylis – Three Kings Islands
- Pennantia corymbosa J.R.Forst. & G.Forst., 'kaikōmako' – New Zealand
- Pennantia cunninghamii Miers, 'brown beech' – NSW, Qld, Australia
- Pennantia endlicheri Reissek – Norfolk Island