''Luma'' (plant)

Luma
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Plantae
Clade:Angiosperms
Clade:Eudicots
Clade:Rosids
Order:Myrtales
Family:Myrtaceae
Subfamily:Myrtoideae
Tribe:Myrteae
Genus:Luma
A.Gray
Synonyms[1]

Myrceugenella Kausel

Luma is a genus of flowering plants in the myrtle family Myrtaceae, described as a genus in 1853.[2][3] It is native to the Valdivian temperate rain forests of Chile and Argentina.[1]

They are shrubs or small trees with evergreen foliage and smooth red or orange bark, typically reaching 10–20 m (33–66 ft) tall and up to 1 m (3 ft) in trunk diameter. The leaves are opposite, oval, 1–5 cm long and 0.5–3 cm broad, entire, glossy dark green, with a spicy scent if crushed. The flowers are 2 cm diameter with four white petals and numerous stamens; the fruit is a small purple or black berry 1 cm diameter.

The genus name derives from the Mapuche (Native American) name for a related species, Amomyrtus luma.

Species

ImageScientific nameCommon NameDistribution
Luma apiculata (DC.) Burret, Notizbl.Chilean myrtle, known in Spanish as Arrayán or TemuS Chile, S Argentina; naturalized in Alpine County in California
Luma chequen (Molina) A.GrayChequén or HuillipetaCentral Chile; naturalized in Peru and Bolivia
formerly included[1][4]

A long list of over 100 other names have been proposed in the genus, nearly all of them now regarded as members of other genera: Blepharocalyx, Eugenia, Myrceugenia, etc.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
  2. Gray, Asa. 1853. Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 3: 52–53 description in Latin, commentary in English
  3. Tropicos, Luma A. Gray
  4. Burret, (Maximilian) Karl Ewald. 1941. Notizblatt des Botanischen Gartens und Museums zu Berlin-Dahlem 15: 518-542


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.