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Wikstroemia

Endl. (1833)

This name is accepted

Kingdom: Viridiplantae Phylum: Magnoliophyta Class/Clade: Eudicot-Rosids Order: Malvales Family: Thymelaeaceae Genus: Wikstroemia

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Description

Key Characters:

Growth Form: Shrubs, subshrubs, or small trees.

Stems:

Roots:

Leaves: Leaves simple. Alternate or opposite. Blades elliptic, ovate, obovate, or orbicular. Margins entire. Pinnately veined. Stipules absent.

Flowers: Flowers in terminal or axillary, spicate or racemose inflorescences, rarely bracteate. Flowers bisexual (perfect) or unisexual, yellow, pubescent, becoming glabrate. Calyx 4-lobed, cylindrical or tubular, appearing corolloid. Corolla (petals) absent. Stamens 8, the lower whorl included, the upper whorl sometimes shortiy exserted. Ovary superior, 1-celled; ovules solitary and pendulous.

Fruit: Fruit drupaceous. Seeds without endosperm.

Ploidy:

Habitat:

Elevation Range:

Historical Distribution

Images

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Uses and Culture

USES

  • The sap—together with niu flesh (coconut, Cocos nucifera) and kōkea (white sugarcane, Saccharum officinarum)—is ingested with ‘uala (sweet potato, Ipomoea batatas) as a purgative. The leaves and leaf buds are mixed with the bark of ‘ohi‘a ‘ai (Syzygium malaccense) and ‘uhaloa root (Waltheria indica), flesh of niu, kō‘aina kea (sugarcane variety, Saccharum officinarum). Pounded, water added, strained, and the liquid ingested for wai‘opua pa‘a and nae kulou (Chun 1994:23–25).

  • Wood used as ‘auamo (carrying sticks), leaves, branches and berries, beaten and used to stupify fish (Lamb 1981:92; Degener 1930:224–5); fruits as lei (Abbott 1992:125; Krauss 1993: 77); cordage made from bast fibers, with bark removed (Abbott 1992:63; Rock 1913:317). Extremely poisonous, for suicide or execution also used for binding (Degener 1930:224)

PROPAGATION/CULTIVATION

  • Easy. Can be grown from seeds, cuttings, or air-layers; great plant for water-saving gardening; sprouts after 1 month or more; seedlings are hardy & resistant to fungal rot & damping-off, diseases & largely immune to insect attack; initial growth is slow (Bornhorst 1996:25; Bornhorst and Rauch 1994:2; Culliney and Koebele 1999:43–46; Nagata 1992:1993 addendum).

Natural History

Island Status

Dispersal Agents


Pollinators

Bibliography

Name Published In: Prodr. Fl. Norfolk.: 47 (1833)

Occurrences

SNo. Scientific Name Scientific Name Authorship Locality Habitat Basis of Record Recorded By Record Number Island Source Date
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