Endiandra
| Endiandra | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Endiandra pubens, leaf | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Magnoliids |
| Order: | Laurales |
| Family: | Lauraceae |
| Genus: |
Endiandra R.Br. |
| Species | |
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Over 100 |
|
| Synonyms | |
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Over 100
Endiandra is a genus of approximately 100 species of plants, mainly trees, in the laurel family Lauraceae. They are commonly called "walnut" despite not being related to the Northern Hemisphere walnuts (Juglans spp.) which are in the family Juglandaceae.
Shrubs and trees with lauroid leaves mostly, with bisexual flowers, usually with a large edible berry ovoid or globose, and seated directly on the pedicel. The seeds are dispersed by animals and birds. They have a broad distribution across South East Asia, Australia and into the western Pacific Ocean.
Endiandra is a genus of evergreen trees belonging to the Laurel family, Lauraceae. Fossils shows that before glaciations species were formerly distributed more widely, when the climate was more humid and mild than at present. They are distributed in Asia, from India and Indochina, China, Malesia, Australia, and Pacific islands, with 38 species endemic to Australia.
In Australia, they are often used as screen trees due to the thick foliage of a number of their species. Quite a few of the Australian species are rare, such as Endiandra globosa, Endiandra muelleri subsp. bracteata and Endiandra floydii.
The drying of the area during the glaciations caused that Endiandra to retreat to the mildest climate refuges, including Oceanic and southern islands and wetter mountain area. With the end of the last glacial period, Endiandra recovered some of its former range. They are mostly relicts of a type of vegetation disappeared, which originally covered much of the mainland of Australia, South America, Antarctica, South Africa, North America and other lands when their climate were more humid and warm. Although warm Cloud forests disappeared during the glaciations, they re-colonized large areas every time the weather was favorable again. Most of the Cloud forests are believed to have retreated and advanced during successive geological eras, and their species adapted to warm and wet gradually retreated and advanced, replaced by more cold-tolerant or drought-tolerant sclerophyll plant communities. Many of the then existing species became extinct because they could not cross the barriers posed by new oceans, mountains and deserts, but others found refuge as species relict in coastal areas and Islands.
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Wikipedia