Amborella trichopoda
| Amborella | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Order: |
Amborellales Melikyan, A.V.Bobrov, & Zaytzeva |
| Family: |
Amborellaceae Pichon |
| Genus: |
Amborella Baill. |
| Species: | A. trichopoda |
| Binomial name | |
|
Amborella trichopoda Baill. |
|
Amborella is a monotypic genus of understory shrubs or small trees endemic to the main island, Grande Terre, of New Caledonia. The genus is the only member of the family Amborellaceae and the order Amborellales and contains a single species, Amborella trichopoda.Amborella is of great interest to plant systematists because molecular phylogenetic analyses consistently place the genus at or near the base of the flowering plant lineage.
Amborella is a sprawling shrub or small tree up to 8 m high. It bears alternate or decussate, simple evergreen leaves without stipules. The leaves are two-ranked, with distinctly serrated or rippled margins, and about 8 to 10 cm long.
Amborella has xylem tissue that differs from that of most other flowering plants. The xylem of Amborella contains only tracheids; vessel elements are absent. Xylem of this form has long been regarded as a "primitive" feature of flowering plants.
The species is dioecious. This means that each plant produces either "male flowers" (meaning that they have functional stamens) or "female flowers" (flowers with functional carpels), but not both. At any one time, a dioecious plant produces only functionally staminate or functionally carpellate flowers. Staminate ("male") Amborella flowers do not have carpels, whereas the carpellate ("female") flowers have non-functional "staminodes", structures resembling stamens in which no pollen develops. Plants may change from one reproductive morphology to the other. In one study, seven cuttings from a staminate plant produced, as expected, staminate flowers at their first flowering, but three of the seven produced carpellate flowers at their second flowering.
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Wikipedia