Laportea urentissima

• Overview
• Interesting Facts
• Description
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Overview

Endangered

Interesting Facts

Description

Family Urticaceae

Herbs, subshrubs , or shrubs , rarely trees , very rarely climbing , stems often fibrous , sometimes succulent. sometimes armed with stinging hairs ; epidermal cells of leaves, sometimes stems, perianths mostly with prominent cystoliths punctiform to linear ; Leaves alternate or opposite, stipules present, rarely absent; leaf blade simple . Inflorescences cymose , paniculate , racemose, spicate , or cluster-capitate, usually formed from glomerules , sometimes crowded on common enlarged cuplike or discoid receptacle, rarely reduced into a single flower. Flowers unisexual (plants monoecious or dioecious), rarely bisexual in partial flowers; actinomorphic , very small, (1-) 4- or 5-merous, rarely perianth absent in female flowers. Calyx absent. Perianth lobes imbricate or valvate . Male flowers: stamens as many as and opposite to perianth lobes, filaments inflexed in bud; anthers 2-locular, opening lengthwise, rudimentary ovary often present. Female flowers: perianth lobes free or connate , usually enlarged in fruit and persistent , occasionally absent; staminodes scarious , opposite to the perianth lobes, or absent. Ovary rudimentary in male flowers, sessile or shortly stipitate , free or adnate to the perianth; 1-locular, ovule solitary, erect from the base ; style simple, or absent; stigma diverse , capitate, penicillate-capitate (brushlike), subulate , filiform , ligulate , or peltate. Fruit usually a dry achene, sometimes a fleshy drupe, often enclosed by the persistent perianth. Seed solitary, endosperm usually present; embryo straight; cotyledons ovate elliptical or orbicular .

About 47 genera and 1300 species: most numerous in wet tropical regions , extending into temperate regions ; 25 genera and 341 species (163 endemic, one introduced ) in China.

Plants in this family have numerous uses. The stem fiber of some genera and species is of high quality and used to make cloth, fishing nets , and ropes and for some industrial materials . In central and southern China,

Boehmeria nivea is widely cultivated for ramie fiber and Girardinia diversifolia subsp. triloba is widely cultivated for  red huo ma  fiber. Boiled young shoots of Girardinia, Laportea, and Urtica are eaten as vegetables. Some species are used in local Chinese medicine. Pellionia repens, Pilea cadierei, P. microphylla, and P. peperomioides, among other species, are widely cultivated as ornamentals in China and elsewhere. Some genera, such as Elatostema, Pellionia, and Pilea, occur frequently in shady, moist habitats of subtropical forests and become dominant elements of the forest floor vegetation. Plants of the first five genera belong to tribe Urticeae, which is usually characterized by the distinctive stinging hairs.[1]

Genus Laportea

Herbs, annual or perennial , with stinging and nonstinging hairs on same plant. Stems simple , erect . Leaves alternate; stipules present. Leaf blades narrowly ovate to orbiculate, margins dentate or serrate; cystoliths rounded . Inflorescences axillary and terminal , of paniculately arranged cymes. Flowers unisexual , proximal panicles staminate and distal pistillate , or staminate and pistillate flowers in same panicle; bracts absent. Staminate flowers : tepals 4-5, distinct , equal; stamens 4-5; pistillode knoblike. Pistillate flowers: tepals 2-4, distinct, outer pair minute or absent, without hooked hairs; staminodes absent; style persistent even in fruit, hooklike or elongate ; stigma extended along style. Achenes stipitate , laterally compressed , ±orbicular, free from and not enclosed by perianth. x =13.

Species 22: North America, West Indies, Central America, South America, Asia, Africa, Pacific Islands.

Most species of Laportea occur in Africa and Madagascar.[2]

Habitat

Biome: Terrestrial [3].

Ecology: Ranging in stature from a small shrub to a tree of 15 m , this fast-growing species is a prominent component of monsoon forest on limestone hills between 700 and 1,000 m. [3].

Taxonomy

Notes

Publishing author : Gagnep. Publication : Bull . Soc. Bot. France 75: 3 1928

Similar Species

Members of the genus Laportea

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 5 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

L. aestuans (West Indian Woodnettle) · L. canadensis (Canada Lettuce) · L. canadensis var. pustulata (Canada Lettuce) · L. cuneata (Weedy Woodnettle) · L. interrupta (Hawai'i Woodnettle)

More Info

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Further Reading

• Li-kuo, F. and Jian-ming, J. (eds) 1992. China Plant Red Data Book – Rare and Endangered Plants 1. Science Press, Beijing.
• Li-kuo, F. and Jian-ming, J. 1992. China Plant Red Data Book Rare and Endangered Plants 1. Science Press, Beijing.
• National Environment Protection Bureau. 1987. The list of rare and endangered plants protected in China. Botanical Institute of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Academy Press, Beijing.
• Oldfield, S., Lusty, C. and MacKinven, A. (compilers). 1998. The World List of Threatened Trees. World Conservation Press, Cambridge, UK.
• Sun, W. 1997. Completed data collection forms for trees of Yunnan.
• Chen Chiajui & Wang Wentsai. 1995. Urticaceae. In: Wang Wentsai & Chen Chiajui, eds., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 23(2): 1404.
• Chew, W.L. 1969. A monograph of Laportea (Urticaceae). Gard. Bull. Straits Settlem. 25: 111-178.

Notes

Contributors

• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 11, 2012.
• IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. . Downloaded on January 28, 2012.
• Sun, W. 1998. Laportea urentissima. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloadedon 01February2012.

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 3463223
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 15889032
• Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:854342-1
• International Plant Names Index (IPNI) ID: 854342-1
• IUCN ID: 218159
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 1020793

Footnotes

1. Jiarui Chen, Prof. Qi Lin, Ib Friis, C. Melanie Wilmot-Dear & Alex K. Monro "Urticaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 5 Page 76. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
2. "Laportea". in Flora of North America Vol. 3. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
3. Sun, W. 1998. Laportea urentissima. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 01 February 2012. [back]

©2004-2012 David Stang. All rights reserved.