Litsea glutinosa

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

Overview

Interesting Facts

Common Names

Click on the language to view common names.

Description

Family Lauraceae

Shrubs to tall trees , evergreen or rarely deciduous ( Cassytha a parasitic vine with leaves reduced to scales ), usually aromatic . Leaves alternate, rarely whorled or opposite, simple , without stipules, petiolate . Leaf blade : unlobed (unlobed or lobed in Sassafras ), margins entire, occasionally with domatia (crevices or hollows serving as lodging for mites ) in axils of main lateral veins (in Cinnamomum ) . Inflorescences in axils of leaves or deciduous bracts, panicles (rarely heads ), racemes , compound cymes, or pseudoumbels (spikes in Cassytha ), sometimes enclosed by decussate bracts. Flowers bisexual or unisexual , bisexual only, or staminate and pistillate on different plants , or staminate and bisexual on some plants, pistillate and bisexual on others; flowers usually yellow to greenish or white, rarely reddish; hypanthium well developed, resembling calyx tube , tepals and stamens perigynous; tepals 6(-9), in 2(-3) whorls of 3, sepaloid , equal or rarely unequal, if unequal then usually outer 3 smaller than inner 3 (occasionally absent in Litsea ) ; stamens (3-) 9(-12), in whorls of 3, but 1 or more whorls frequently staminodial or absent; stamens of 3d whorl with 2 glands near base ; anthers 2- or 4-locular, locules opening by valves ; pistil 1, 1-carpellate; ovary 1-locular; placentation basal; ovule 1; stigma subsessile , discoid or capitate. Fruits drupes, drupe borne on pedicel with or without persistent tepals at base, or seated in ± deeply cup-shaped receptacle (cupule), or enclosed in accrescent floral tube . Seed 1; endosperm absent.

Genera ca. 50, species 2000-3000 (9 genera, 13 species in the flora ) : pantropical , a few species also in subtropical and temperate regions

Cassytha is sometimes placed in its own family , Cassythaceae; it is here retained in Lauraceae.[1]

Genus Litsea

Shrubs [or trees ], deciduous [or evergreen ]. Leaves alternate, not aromatic . Leaf blade pinnately veined, rarely with 3 primary veins, leathery; surfaces glabrous or variously pubescent ; domatia absent. Inflorescences appearing with or before new leaves, axillary , pseudoumbels, subtended by decussate bracts. Flowers unisexual , staminate and pistillate on different plants ; tepals deciduous, yellow, green, or white, equal, glabrous. Staminate flowers : stamens 9 (or 12) ; anthers 4-locular, 4-valved, introrse . Pistillate flowers: staminodes 9 (or 12) ; ovary globose . Drupe red, globose, seated in small, single-rimmed cupule.

Species ca. 400: North America, Mexico, Central America, mostly in Asia.

Mexico has four species of Litsea, one of which extends to Costa Rica in Central America. Litsea merits revision and, as accepted here, it is probably polyphyletic. It is very similar to Lindera and best recognized by its 4-locular anthers (2-locular in Lindera ).[2]

Taxonomy

Notes

Place of publication : Philipp. J. Sci., C 6:321. 1911

Name verified on 16-Apr-1999 by ARS Systematic Botanists. Last updated: 12-Jan-2001

Similar Species

Members of the genus Litsea

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

L. aestivalis (Pondspice) · L. californica (California Bay Tree) · L. cubeba (Litsea) · L. glutinosa (Indian-Laurel) · L. japonica (Litsea)

More Info

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Further Reading

• A flora of Manila / Manila: Bureau of Printing, 1912, 1974 printing. url .
• A flora of Manila, by E. D. Merrill. Manila, Bureau of Printing, 1912. url p. 210.
• An annotated catalogue of types of the University of Illinois mycological collections (ILL) / Urbana: University of Illinois Press, c1997. url p. 193.
• An enumeration of Philippine flowering plants, Manila, Bureau of Printing, 1922-26. url p. 193, p. 194.
• Botanical abstracts. Baltimore, Williams & Wilkins Co. url p. 301.
• Botanical publications of E.D. Merrill. [New York, etc., 1899- url p. 194.
• British journal of entomology and natural history. [London]: British Entomological and Natural History Society, 1988- url p. 83.
• Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History). London: BM(NH) url p. 101, p. 4, p. 43, p. 44.
• Check-list of the species of fishes known from the Philippine Archipelago, Manila, Bureau of printing, 1910. url p. 135, p. 136, p. 140, p. 141, p. 154, p. 25, p. 412, p. 430.
• Contributions from the United States National Herbarium 45 2003 Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1890- url p. 279, p. 437, p. 453.
• Exotic microlepidoptera, v. 1-5, Mar. 1912-Sept. 1936. Hampton (Middx.), E. W. Classey Ltd., 1969. url p. 582, p. 604.
• Leaflets of Philippine botany. 6 1913-1914 Manila: Oriental Printing Co., 1906-1939. url p. 2161, p. 2468, p. 2478, p. 2507, p. 2535, p. 2711.
• Memoirs of the Torrey Botanical Club. 17 1918 Durham, N.C.: Published for the Club by the Seeman Printery, 1889- url p. 72.
• Minor products of Philippine forests, Manila, Bureau of Printing, 1920-1921. url , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .
• Pre-project study on the conservation status of tropical timbers in trade. Final report to International Tropical Timber Organization. Vol 1 ITTO url p. 188.
• Species Blancoanae: a critical revision of the Philippine species of plants described by Blanco and by Llanos /by E.D. Merrill. 1918 Manila: Bureau of Printing, 1918. url p. 154.
• The Philippine journal of science. 17 1920 Manila. url p. 150, p. 152, p. 234, p. 284, p. 321, p. 363, p. 400, p. 420, p. 425, p. 462, p. 508, p. 555, p. 557.
• The Plant world. Baltimore [etc.]Plant World Association [etc.] url p. 201, p. 207.
• Wood, C. E. Jr. 1958. The genera of the woody Ranales in the southeastern United States. J. Arnold Arbor. 39: 296-346.

Notes

Contributors

• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 11, 2012.

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 15, 2007:

• Australian National Herbarium
• , Australian National Herbarium
• Missouri Botanical Garden, Missouri Botanical Garden

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 3479926
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 15552610
• Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:465709-1
• GRIN Nomen Number: 22422
• International Plant Names Index (IPNI) ID: 465709-1
• MoBot NameID: 17801753
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 1078906

Footnotes

1. Henk van der Werff "Lauraceae". in Flora of North America Vol. 3. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
2. Henk van der Werff "Litsea". in Flora of North America Vol. 3. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]

©2004-2012 David Stang. All rights reserved.