Seemannaralia gerrardii

Wild-maple
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Asterids
Order: Apiales
Family: Araliaceae
Subfamily: Aralioideae
Genus: Seemannaralia
Species: S. gerrardii
Binomial name
Seemannaralia gerrardii
Synonyms
  • Cussonia gerrardii Seem.
  • Panax gerrardii (Seem.) Harv.[1]

Seemannaralia gerrardii, commonly known as the wild-maple or mock carrot tree, is a species of flowering plant of family Araliaceae. It is the sole member of genus Seemannaralia, and is endemic to South Africa, where it occurs in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces.[2] It was originally included in genus Cussonia. Seemann- and gerrardii commemorate Berthold Seemann and William Gerrard respectively, while -aralia suggests the family or its type genus, Aralia.[3]

Description

A short squat tree of open rocky situations, or a tall tree of forest and forest edge.[3] The rough grey bark is deeply cracked. As with genus Cussonia the leaves are clustered at the ends of branches. The leaf shape is characteristic: maple-like, palmate and 3 to 7 lobed.[3] Leaves turn yellow in autumn.

Flowers and fruit

The small, yellowish green flowers are produced in autumn,[3] in axillary and terminal panicles of umbels.[4] The oval flower petals have an inbricate estivation.[5] The superior ovary is 1[6] or 2-locular,[4] and much compressed laterally.[5] The purplish drupes appear in winter. They are of a flattened, elliptic shape, with lateral veins.[3]

  1. ↑ "Seemannaralia gerrardii (Seem.) R.Vig". The Plant List (2013). Version 1.1. theplantlist.org. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  2. ↑ Foden, W.; Potter, L. (2005). "Seemannaralia gerrardii (Seem.) Harms". Red List of South African Plants version 2017.1. SANBI. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Schmidt, Ernst; Lötter, Mervyn; McCleland, Warren (2002). Trees and shrubs of Mpumalanga and Kruger National Park. Johannesburg: Jacana Media. p. 488. ISBN 9781919777306.
  4. 1 2 "Araliaceae - Seemannaralia R.Vig". Keys to Flora of Southern Africa. SANBI. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
  5. 1 2 Hooker, Joseph Dalton (1884). Cussonia gerrardi, Seem. Hooker's Icones Plantarum. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  6. ↑ Takhtajan, Armen (2009). Flowering plants (2nd ed.). Dordrecht: Springer. p. 474. ISBN 9781402096099.


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