Trochetiopsis

taxobox
name = "Trochetiopsis"

---

image_caption = "Trochetiopsis erythroxylon" only survives in horticulture at present
regnum = Plantae
unranked_divisio = Angiosperms
unranked_classis = Eudicots
unranked_ordo = Rosids
ordo = Malvales
familia = Malvaceae
subfamilia = Dombeyoideae
genus = "Trochetiopsis"
genus_authority = W.Marais, 1981
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision = "Trochetiopsis x benjaminii"
"Trochetiopsis ebenus"
"Trochetiopsis erythroxylon" (extinct in the wild)
"Trochetiopsis melanoxylon" (extinct)
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The flowering plant genus "Trochetiopsis" consists of two extant and one extinct species endemic to the island of St Helena (South Atlantic Ocean). They were formerly placed in the family Sterculiaceae, but this is included in the expanded Malvaceae in the APG and most subsequent systematics.

There is evidence from fossil pollen that the "Trochetiopsis" lineage has been on St Helena since the late Miocene (some 9.5 million years). [Cronk (1990)]

Description

The species of this genus were formerly included in the genus "Trochetia", but were separated by Marais in 1981 on the basis of geography and morphological characters [Marais (1981)] . Unlike in "Trochetia", the "Trochetiopsis" flowers have only five stamens, and the sepals generally have appressed sericeous indumentum on their interior faces (although one species, "T. melanoxylon", lacks this last character).

The wood of all the species is attractively coloured and is used in island inlay work.

pecies

There are three species (two living, one extinct), and one named hybrid:
* "Trochetiopsis erythroxylon". Extinct in the wild
* "Trochetiopsis ebenus". The St Helena ebony (critically endangered in the wild).
* "Trochetiopsis melanoxylon" - Extinct.
* "Trochetiopsis x benjaminii" ("T. erythroxylon" x "T. ebenus").

ee also

Flora of St Helena

Footnotes

References

* (1981) "Trochetiopsis" (Sterculiaceae), a new genus from St Helena. "Kew Bulletin" 36(3): 645-646. [http://www.jstor.org/pss/4117598 HTML abstract]
* (1995): "The endemic Flora of St Helena". Anthony Nelson Ltd, Oswestry.
* (1990): The history of the endemic flora of St Helena: late Miocene "Trochetiopsis"-like pollen from St Helena and the origin of "Trochetiopsis". "New Phytologist" 114: 159-165.

External links

* [http://www.malvaceae.info/Genera/Trochetiopsis/gallery.html "Trochetiopsis" gallery]