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Bikkia tetrandra

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Bikkia tetrandra
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Gentianales
Family: Rubiaceae
Genus: Bikkia
Species:
B. tetrandra
Binomial name
Bikkia tetrandra
Synonyms[1]
15 Synonyms

Bikkia tetrandra (Chamorro: gausåli) is an herbaceous member of the family Rubiaceae, distinguished by its white square-shaped flowers. It is native to Papuasia and islands of the western Pacific, including the Caroline Islands, Fiji, Mariana Islands, New Caledonia, New Guinea, Niue, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu, and Wallis-Futuna Islands.[1] The stems ignite easily and can be used to make torches or candles.[2]

Bikkia tetrandra unopened flower, Guam

Bikkia tetrandra has become a popular symbol of native ecology on the island of Guam.[3][4][5][6][7][8] There were two failed legislative proposals on Guam in 2014 and 2018 to make Bikkia tetrandra the official territorial flower.[9][10] The current territorial flower, the South American Bougainvillea, was introduced to Guam in 1910, where it is now considered invasive.[11]

Description

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Form: Grows as an erect, branching shrub on sea-exposed limestone cliffs.[12]

Stem: Pale bark[12]

Leaves: Leaves grow in an opposite arrangement from the tips of branches, with every leaf pair offset from the pair above it and below it. Stipules are D-shaped with a small point.[13] Leaves have short petioles attaching them to the stem. Leaves have no lobes, are glabrous (smooth), obovate (narrower at the base than the tip), with an obtuse angle at the tips. The leaves have a pale midvein.[12][14]

Flower: Flowers arise from the stem in an axillary arrangement (budding from between the leaf and stem), connected by 1 to a few short pedicels. At the base of the flower is a four-toothed calyx. The white flower has a long tubular shape, expanding out at the end like a trumpet. Petals are squared off. There are four long anthers but they do not extend beyond the flower.[12][14]

Fruit: 2-celled capsules that are fibrous, woody, and elongated.[12] Seed capsules of Bikkia tetrandra are much larger than other Bikkia species (see illustration for comparison to other Bikkia species, with Bikkia tetrandra (#12) being at a lower magnification than the others[clarification needed]).

Seeds: Large number of tiny black seeds.[12]

History and taxonomy

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In 1781, the species was first described in the scientific literature and named Portlandia tetrandra by Swedish naturalist, Carl Linnaeus the Younger, based on samples collected from Niue (then known as Savage Island).[14] The species name, tetrandra, indicates the four stamens.[15] This treatment was repeated by Georg Forster in 1786.[16]

The French botanist, Charles Gaudichaud-Beaupré, collected numerous samples of the plant during his voyage to the Pacific from 1817 to 1820.[17] Additional specimens were collected by French naturalists, Jacques Bernard Hombron and Élie Jean François Le Guillou during the 1837–1840 Dumont-d'Urville expedition aboard the Astrolabe.

In 1829, French botanist, M. Achille Richard, changed the name to Bikkia tetrandra and provided his own description. Both Linnaeus (who first described the species) and Richard (who gave the plant its current binomial name), are listed as the botanical authorities: thus "Bikkia tetrandra (L.f.) A.Rich." Richard noted the species to be distinct from the Portlandia genus because of the four parts of various parts of its flower and by the limbs of its calyx having four teeth rather than five deep divisions.[18]

In 1866, the French botanist, Adolphe-Théodore Brongniart, reviewing the numerous specimens from Gaudichaud, Hombron and Le Guillou, proposed splitting the species into five separate species: B. forsteriana from Niue and Solomon Islands, B. mariannensis from Guam, B. guilloviana in New Guinea, B. hombroniana from Tonga, and B. gaudichaudiana from Waigeo, Tahiti, and New Guinea.[19]

In 1919, English botanist, Spencer Le Marchant Moore, wrote that the plants from the Mariana Islands (known at the time as B. mariannensis) differed from the plants from Isle of Pines, New Caledonia (which he called B. comptonii), with the Mariana Islands plants having narrower and thinner leaves, differently shaped calyx segments, a longer corolla and elongated, clavate (hammer-shaped) stigma.[20]

In 1975, French botanist, André Aubréville, examined plants collected from Grand Terre and Isle of Pines in New Caledonia and provided an identification key to the Bikkia genus.[21]

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Various common names have been recorded. In 1819, Gaudichaud transliterated the Carolinian word for the plant into French as abamache.[22]

In 1819, Gaudichaud transliterated the Chamorro word for the plant on Guam into French as tchiouti. However, in modern usage, "chiute" is the name for a different species with large white flowers, Cerbera odollam.[23] Safford later recorded the word gausuli in 1905 on Guam. Fosberg also recorded gau sali on Rota in 1993.[24]

Safford reported in 1905 that the wood ignites easily and was used as torches.[24]

[edit]
  • B. tetrandra (siale tafa), Tongatapu, Tonga
    B. tetrandra (siale tafa), Tongatapu, Tonga
  • B. tetrandra flower, Isle of Pines, New Caledonia
    B. tetrandra flower, Isle of Pines, New Caledonia
  • B. tetrandra, Tumon, Guam
    B. tetrandra, Tumon, Guam
  • B. tetrandra growing from its typical habitat of karst limestone, Tumon, Guam
    B. tetrandra growing from its typical habitat of karst limestone, Tumon, Guam
  • B. tetrandra developing seed capsules, Tumon, Guam
    B. tetrandra developing seed capsules, Tumon, Guam
  • B. tetrandra developing flowers, Guam
    B. tetrandra developing flowers, Guam
  • B. tetrandra seed capsules, Tumon, Guam
    B. tetrandra seed capsules, Tumon, Guam

See also

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List of endemic plants in the Mariana Islands

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Bikkia tetrandra (L.f.) A.Rich.". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 26 November 2024.
  2. ^ Raulerson, Lynn (1992). Trees and Shrubs of the Mariana Islands.
  3. ^ "Anderson Airforce Base: Guam Visitor's Bureau sign". 2023.
  4. ^ "Marianas Terrestrial Conservation Conference and Workshop". Marianas Terrestrial Conservation Conference and Workshop. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
  5. ^ "Division of Aquatic & Wildlife Resources (DAWR) | DOAG". Retrieved 27 April 2023.
  6. ^ "IHFG | I HAGAN FAMALAO'AN GUÅHAN". Retrieved 27 April 2023.
  7. ^ "Facebook: UOG Press".
  8. ^ "Gausåli: A Native Beauty - Guam Green Growth". guamgreengrowth.org. 24 September 2024. Retrieved 25 November 2024.
  9. ^ "Guam may make native plant its national flower". AP NEWS. 20 June 2014. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
  10. ^ Post, Tihu Lujan | The Guam Daily (April 2018). "Youth Congress proposes change to territorial flower". The Guam Daily Post. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
  11. ^ McPherson, Alan (10 June 2013). State Botanical Symbols. AuthorHouse. ISBN 978-1-4817-4885-8.
  12. ^ a b c d e f "Bikkia tetrandra". Guam Plant Extinction Prevention Program. Retrieved 26 November 2024.
  13. ^ Gutierrez, Lauren (24 October 2010) [Taken 13 August 2010]. "Bikkia testrandra". Flickr. San Francisco,California. Retrieved 27 November 2024.
  14. ^ a b c Linné, Carl von (1781). Supplementum plantarum; Systematis vegetabilium, editionis decimae tertiae; Generum plantarum, editionis sextae; et Specierum plantarum, editionis secundae [Supplementation of plants; Systematics of plants, thirteenth edition; Genera of plants, sixth edition; and Species of Plants, second edition] (in Latin). Brunsvigae: Impensis Orphanotrophei. p. 143.
  15. ^ "Definition of TETRANDRIA". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 26 November 2024.
  16. ^ Forster, M.D., Georg (1786). Florulae insularum Australium: Prodromus [Flowers of the Southern Islands: Introduction] (in German). Gottingae [Göttingen, Germany]: Joann. Christian Dietrich. p. 15.
  17. ^ Société botanique de France.; France, Société botanique de; scientifique (France), Centre national de la recherche (1866). Bulletin de la Société botanique de France (in French). Vol. v.13 (1866). Paris: La Société. p. 42.
  18. ^ Richard, M. Achille (1829). Mémoire sur la famille rubiacées, contenant les caractères des genres de cette famille et d'un grand nombre d'espèces nouvelles [Memoir on the Rubiaceae family, containing the characteristics of the genera of this family and of a large number of new species] (in French). Paris: J. Tastu (published 1830). p. 151.
  19. ^ Brongniart, M. Ad. (1866). Bulletin de la Société botanique de France [Bulletin of the Botanical Society of France] (in French). Vol. 13. Paris: Société botanique de France. pp. 40–43.
  20. ^ Le Marchant Moore, Spencer (1919). The Journal of the Linnean Society, Botany: Plants from New Caledonia. Vol. 45. London : the Society: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts & Green (published 1920). pp. 325–327.
  21. ^ Aubréville, A.; Leroy, Jean-F. (1975). Adansonia (in French). Vol. 15 (2 ed.). Paris: Muséum d'histoire naturelle, Laboratoire de Phanérogamie. pp. 342–344.
  22. ^ Gaudichaud, Charles (1826). Voyage autour du monde, entrepris par ordre du roi. Exécuté sur les corvettes de S.M. l'Uranie et la Physicienne, pendant les années 1817, 1818, 1819 et 1820 (in French). Vol. 4. Paris: Chez Pillet aîné. pp. 63, 65.
  23. ^ Tuquero, Joseph (2019). "Chiute - Cerbera dilatata" (PDF). University of Guam (UOG) Cooperative Extension & Outreach: Native Plants of Guam. Retrieved 27 November 2024.
  24. ^ a b Fosberg, Raymond F.; Sachet, Marie-Hélène; Oliver, Royce L. (1993). Smithsonian Contributions to Botany: Flora of Micronesia, 5: Bignoniaceae-Rubiaceae. Vol. 81. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. pp. 49–51.
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Treatments of the species in botanical literature

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  • Holotype: Portlandia tetrandra L.f., Suppl. Plant. : 143 (1781); Forster, Prodr. : 15 (1786) 2.
  • Hoffmannia amicorum Spreng., Syst. Veg. 1 : 416 (1825).
  • Bikkia grandiflora Reinw., Syll. PI. Ratisb. 2 : 8 (1825 vel 1826), nom. illeg.
  • Bikkia australis DC. var. forsteriana DC., Prod. 4 : 405 (1830).
  • Bikkia australis DC. var. commersoniana DC., Le. ditto
  • Bikkia tetrandra (L.f.) A.Rich, Mém. Fam. Rub.: 151 (1830) [1829]; Mém. Hist. Nat. Paris 5 : 231 (1834).
  • Bikkiopsis pancheri A. Brongn., Bull. Soc. Bot. Fr. 12 : 405 (1865).
  • Bikkia forsteriana A. Brongn., Bull. Soc. Bot. Fr. 13 : 42 (1866)
  • Cormigonus tetrandrus (L.f.) O. Kuntze, Rev. Gen. : 279 (1891).
  • Cormigonus pancheri (A. Brongn.) O. Kuntze, Rev. Gen. : 279 (1891).
  • Bikkia pancheri (A. Brongn.) Guillaumin, in Lecomte, Not. Syst. 1 : 112 (1909).
  • Ludovica thiebautii Vieill. ex Guillaumin, in syn., Ann. Mus. Col. Marseille, ser. 2, 9 : 167 (1911), nom. nud.
  • Bikkia comptonii S. Moore, Journ. Linn. Soc., Bot. 45 : 327 (1921).
  • Bikkia tetrandra (L.f.) A. Richard., Adansonia 15 : 342–344 (1976)


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