Carpodetus

Carpodetus
Carpodetus serratus in New Zealand
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	Asterales
Family:	Rousseaceae
Genus:	Carpodetus J.R.Forst. & G.Forst.
Species
See text

Carpodetus is a genus of flowering plants in the Rousseaceae family. It was formerly considered to lie within the Escalloniaceae. Its species mainly occur in New Guinea, though C. serratus is native to New Zealand. The genus is characterised by small trees with alternate, evergreen leaves, bearing small white flowers with few stamens.^[1]

Species

Described species include: ^[2]

• Carpodetus amplus Reeder
• Carpodetus arboreus (Lauterb. & K.Schum.) Schltr.
• Carpodetus archboldianus Reeder
• Carpodetus denticulatus (Ridl.) Reeder
• Carpodetus flexuosus (Ridl.) Reeder
• Carpodetus fuscus Reeder
• Carpodetus grandiflorus Schltr.
• Carpodetus major Schltr.
• Carpodetus montanus (Ridl.) Reeder
• Carpodetus pullei Schltr.
• Carpodetus serratus J.R.Forst. & G.Forst.

Taxonomy

Carpodetus and its type species C. serratus were first described by father and son Forster in 1773 and placed in the Saxifragaceae. In 1934 it was assigned to the newly created Escalloniaceae by Hutchinson in his major revision of the dicotylodon families.^[3] In the APG III system, Carpodetus has been referred to the Rousseaceae.

Phylogeny

Carpodetus is the sister to the clade consisting of Abrophyllum and Cuttsia. Roussea is sister to the rest of the family and is geographically most distanced from the other genera. Most related to this family are the Campanulaceae. This results in the following phylogenetic tree.^[4]

order Asterales	family Campanulaceae (± cosmopolitan) family Rousseaceae subfamily Rousseoideae Roussea (Mauritius) subfamily Carpodetoideae (eastern Australia) Abrophyllum Cuttsia Carpodetus (New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Zealand) other Asterales families

Etymology

Carpodetus is derived from the Greek words καρπός (karpos) 'fruit' and detus (bound together), a reference that the seeds are bound together in clusters in the berry.^[5]

References

1. Praglowski, Joseph; & Grafström, Elizabeth (1985). "The genus Carpodetus (Escalloniaceae): a pollenmorphological enigma". Grana 24: 11–21. doi:10.1080/00173138509427419.
2. "Carpodetus". The Plant List: A working list of all plant species. The Plant List. 2010. Retrieved 2014-02-06.
3. Brook, J.P. (1951). "Vegetative Anatomy of Carpodetus serratus Forst." (PDF). Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand 79 (2): 276–285.
4. Michael Heads (2013). Biogeography of Australasia: A Molecular Analysis. Cambridge University Press.
5. Marie Taylor (2002). Meanings and origins of botanical names of New Zealand plants. Auckland Botanical Society. cited on "Carpodetus serratus". Alter-Natives Nursery & Landscaping. Retrieved 2016-03-15.