Neocinnamomum

Neocinnamomum
Neocinnamomum delavayi
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Magnoliids
Order: Laurales
Family: Lauraceae
Genus: Neocinnamomum
H.Liu
Species

See text

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Neocinnamomum (新樟属, xin zhang shu) is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Lauraceae. They are evergreen shrubs or small trees, indigenous to Bhutan, China, India, Indonesia (Sumatra), Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, and Vietnam. [1][2]

Neocinnamomum require a warm and wet climate with no extremes of heat and cold. They occupy mid to high elevations and montane laurel forests.[3]

Neocinnamomum leaves resemble those of true cinnamon (Cinnamomum) in possessing strongly three-veined blades, but they are arranged alternately rather than oppositely. The flowers are very small and bisexual.[2][4][5] The inflorescences are highly condensed, with poorly defined branching, their overall shape described as "glomerules".[4] Pollination is by insects.[6] The seeds are dispersed by birds, which eat the fruit which are berry-like drupes.[2] The red fruits of N. caudatum are eaten by humans.[7] The fruits are ellipsoid or globose (round). Some species also propagate vegetatively.[2]

Neocinnamomum mekongense is a species that grows in the mountains north of Dali, China. It is popular with butterflies, which possibly are attracted by secretions from extrafloral nectaries.[8]

It has been suggested that fossil flowers from the late Cretaceous of North America known as Neusenia tetrasporangi are a close match to Neocinnamomum,[9] and phylogenetic analysis from living plants might also indicate that Neocinnamomum is one of the earliest surviving lineages of the Lauraceae.[9]

Species.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 Flora of China online database
  2. 1 2 3 4 Flora of China Neocinnamomum treatment (pdf)
  3. ↑ Newsletter of the Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Garden
  4. 1 2 Wang, Z.-h.; Li, J.; Conran, J.; Li, H.-w. (2010). "Phylogeny of the Southeast Asian endemic genus Neocinnamomum H. Liu (Lauraceae)". Plant Systematics and Evolution 290 (1): 173–184. doi:10.1007/s00606-010-0359-1.
  5. ↑ Caroline K. Allen (1939). "Studies in Cinnamomum and Neocinnamomum". Journal of the Arnold Arboretum 20: 44–63.
  6. ↑ Susan S. Renner (2004). "Variation in diversity among Laurales, Early Cretaceous to Present" (PDF). Biologiske Skrifter 55: 441–458.
  7. ↑ "Wild edible plants used by the Garo tribes of Nokrek Biosphere Reserve, Mechalaya, India" (PDF). Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge.
  8. ↑ Zipcode Zoo
  9. 1 2 Andre S. Chanderbali, Henk van der Werff and Susanne S. Renner (2001). "Phylogeny and Historical Biogeography of Lauraceae: Evidence from the Chloroplast and Nuclear Genomes" (PDF). Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 88 (1): 104–134. doi:10.2307/2666133.
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