Pisonia

<i>Pisonia</i>

Pisonia

Genus of flowering plants


Quick Facts Pisonia, Scientific classification ...

Pisonia is a genus of flowering plants in the four o'clock flower family, Nyctaginaceae. It was named for Dutch physician and naturalist Willem Piso (1611–1678).[3] Certain species in this genus are known as catchbirdtrees, birdcatcher trees or birdlime trees because they catch birds.[4] The sticky seeds are postulated to be an adaptation of some island species that ensures the dispersal of seeds between islands by attaching them to birds, and also allows the enriching of coralline sands. (Should a fledgling fall to the ground, become entangled in the Pisonia's sticky seeds, and be unable to free itself, then it will starve, and so enrich the soil within the tree's rootzone.[4]) These island species include P. brunoniana of Australasia and Polynesia and P. umbellifera, which is widespread in the tropical Indo-Pacific region.

Species

Formerly placed here


References

  1. "Genus: Pisonia L." Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. 2010-07-07. Retrieved 2010-11-18.
  2. "Pisonia L." TROPICOS. Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved 2010-01-21.
  3. "Pisonia aculeata L. pull-back-and-hold" (PDF). International Institute of Tropical Forestry. United States Forest Service. Retrieved 2010-01-21.
  4. Caraballo-Ortiz, Marcos; Trejo-Torres, Jorge (26 September 2017). "Two new endemic tree species from Puerto Rico: Pisonia horneae and Pisonia roqueae (Nyctaginaceae)". PhytoKeys (86): 97–115. doi:10.3897/phytokeys.86.11249. PMC 5672120. PMID 29158698. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
  5. "GRIN Species records of Pisonia". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. Archived from the original on 2000-12-14. Retrieved 2010-01-21.



Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Pisonia, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.