Tetraplasandra

Tetraplasandra is a no longer recognised genus of plants in the ivy family, Araliaceae. They are small to medium trees, (rarely shrubs or large trees) of mesic to wet forests.Porter P. Lowry II. 1990. "Araliaceae", pages 224-237. In: Warren L. Wagner, Derral R. Herbst, and Sy H. Sohmer. Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawaii, Revised Edition, 1999. Bishop Museum Press: Hololulu

Some authors have recognized as many as 19 species in Tetraplasandra,Earl Edward Sherff. 1955. "Revision of the Hawaiian members of the genus Tetraplasandra A. Gray". Fieldiana: Botany 29(2):49-142. while others have recognized as few as six. In 2007, the authors of a scientific paper recommended that the genus be divided into nine species.Annemarie Costello and Timothy J. Motley. 2007. "Phylogenetics of the Tetraplasandra Group (Araliaceae) Inferred from ITS, 5S-NTS, and Morphology". Systematic Botany 32(2):464-477. In 2010, all of these nine species were included in Polyscias subgenus Tetraplasandra, a subgenus of 21 species in the large genus Polyscias, which will comprise about 250 species, when about 90 undescribed species are published.Porter P. Lowry II and Gregory M. Plunkett. 2010. "Recircumscription of Polyscias (Araliaceae) to include six related genera, with a new infrageneric classification and a synopsis of species". Plant Diversity and Evolution (formerly Botanische Jahrbucher) 128(1-2):55-84. . (See External links below).

The range of variation in Tetraplasandra is unusually large for a genus in Araliaceae David G. Frodin and Rafaël Govaerts. 2003. World Checklist and Bibliography of Araliaceae. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. . (See External links below). Most of the species were originally described in other genera which were later merged with Tetraplasandra.

The type species for the genus is T. hawaiensis.Tetraplasandra In: Index Nominum Genericorum. In: Regnum Vegetabile (see External links below).

As defined by in 1970, Tetraplasandra is endemic to HawaiiWilliam R. Philipson. 1970. "A redefinition of Gastonia and related genera (Araliaceae)". Blumea 18(2):497-505. and occurs on six of the eight main islands. Niihau and Kahoolawe are low-lying and dry; consequently, they do not support Tetraplasandra. T. oahuensis, T. kavaiensis, and T. hawaiensis are found on six, five, and four of the islands, respectively. The other species are single-island endemics.

T. oahuensis and T.kavaiensis have done well in cultivation in Southern California. They are sensitive to heat, but very tolerant of shade, and they need some wind protection.Kerin E. Lilleeng-Rosenberger. 2005. Growing Hawaii's Native Plants. Mutual Publishing. In horticulture, T. kavaiensis has often been misidentified as T. meiandra. True T. meiandra is now treated as a synonym of T. oahuensis.Anthony Huxley, Mark Griffiths, and Margot Levy (1992). The New Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening. The Macmillan Press, Limited: London. The Stockton Press: New York. (set).

T. gymnocarpa, a rare tree of Oahu, is considered an oddity, since it is the only species in Araliaceae whose flowers have a completely superior ovary.David J. Mabberley. 2008. Mabberley's Plant-Book third edition (2008). Cambridge University Press: UK. . (See External links below).

The genus Tetraplasandra has long been known as a close relative of the obsolete genera Gastonia, Reynoldsia, and Munroidendron. This was confirmed by a pollen study in 1971.Charles C. Tseng. 1971. "Light and Scanning Electron Microscopic Studies on Pollen of Tetraplasandra (Araliaceae) and Relatives". American Journal of Botany 58(6):505-516. In 2010, those four genera, along with Arthrophyllum and Cuphocarpus, were all sunk into Polyscias, raising the number of species in that genus from about 100 to 159.

Four Hawaiian names are applied to groups of Tetraplasandra species. T. hawaiensis is known as ohe. T. kavaiensis and T. gymnocarpa are called oheohe. T. waimeae is called ohe kikoola. T. oahuensis and T. lydgatei are called ohe mauka. The related name, ohe makai, is applied to Polyscias sandwicensis, formerly known as Reynoldsia sandwicensis. These names closely correspond to clades currently recognized within Tetraplasandra.

Species in Polyscias subgenus Tetraplasandra Most of the information in the species list is from Lowry and Plunkett (2010). Synonyms are names of species accepted by Sherff (1955) or by Frodin and Govaerts (2003), except for Tetraplasandra lydgatei and Tetraplasandra bisattenuata, which were resurrected after 2003. For complete synonymy and distribution within the Hawaiian Islands, see Lowry (1990).

Polyscias belensis – New Guinea Polyscias bisattenuata (= Tetraplasandra bisattenuata) – Kauai Polyscias borneensis – Borneo, Philippines Polyscias florosa – Philippines Polyscias flynnii (Lowry & K.R.Wood) Lowry & G. M. Plunkett (= Tetraplasandra flynnii) – Kauai Polyscias gymnocarpa (Hillebrand) Lowry & G. M. Plunkett (= Tetraplasandra gymnocarpa) – (Oahu) Polyscias hawaiensis (Asa Gray) Lowry & G. M. Plunkett (= Tetraplasandra hawaiensis) – Molokai, Lānai, Maui, island of Hawaii Polyscias kavaiensis (H.Mann) Lowry & G. M. Plunkett (= T. micrantha, T. turbans) – Kauai, Oahu, Lānai, Maui, island of Hawaii Polyscias lanutoensis (= Reynoldsia lanutoensis, Reynoldsia grayana, Reynoldsia tauensis) – Samoa Polyscias lydgatei (= Tetraplasandra lydgatei) – Oahu Polyscias marchionensis (= Reynoldsia marchionensis) – Marquesas Polyscias oahuensis (A.Gray) Lowry & G. M. Plunkett (= T. kaalae, T. kahanana, T. kohalae, T. lanaiensis, T. meiandra, T. munroi, T. oahuensis, T. pupukeensis, T. waianensis) – Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Lānai, Maui, island of Hawaii Polyscias philipsonii – New Guinea Polyscias pleiosperma (= Reynoldsia pleiosperma) – Samoa Polyscias racemosa (= Munroidendron racemosum) – Kauai Polyscias sandwicensis (= Reynoldsia sandwicensis) – Oahu, Molokai, Lānai, Maui, island of Hawaii Polyscias serratifolia (= Gastonia serratifolia) – Malesia to Solomon Islands Polyscias spectabilis (= Gastonia spectabilis) – New Guinea to Solomon Islands Polyscias verrucosa (= Reynoldsia verrucosa, Reynoldsia tahitiensis) – Tahiti Polyscias waialealae (Rock) Lowry & G. M. Plunkett (= Tetraplasandra waialealae, T. lihuensis) – Kauai Polyscias waimeae (Wawra) Lowry & G. M. Plunkett (= Tetraplasandra waimeae) – Kauai

History The genus name was erected by Asa Gray in 1854,Tetraplasandra in International Plant Names Index. (see External links below). in his account of the botany of the U.S. Exploring Expedition (1838-1842).Asa Gray. 1854. Series: United States Exploring Expedition (1838-1842); Volume 15: Botany. Phanerogamia.:727. (See External links below). The name is derived from Greek, tetraplasios, "fourfold", and andros, "male, stamen".Umberto Quattrocchi. 2000. CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names volume IV. CRC Press: Boca Raton; New York; Washington, DC;, USA. London, UK. (set). (see External links below).

Asa Gray named only one species, T. hawaiensis, in Tetraplasandra. The tree that was later known as Tetraplasandra oahuensis (now Polyscias oahuensis), he named Gastonia oahuensis, but with considerable doubt about its placement.Asa Gray. 1854. Series: United States Exploring Expedition (1838-1842); Volume 15: Botany. Phanerogamia.:726. (See External links below).

In 1867, Horace Mann Jr. named two new species, H. kavaiensis and H. dipyrenum in Heptapleurum, a genus that Joseph Gaertner had named in 1791,Heptapleurum in International Plant Names Index. (see External links below). in De Fructibus et Seminibus Plantarum.Joseph Gaertner. 1791. De Fructibus et Seminibus Plantarum. 2:472. (See External links below). Mann created a new section in Heptapleurum for the two Hawaiian species. He named the new section "Pterotropia".Horace Mann Jr. 1867. page 168. In: "Enumeration of Hawaiian Plants" Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 7:143-235. (See External links below). Heptapleurum is no longer recognized and its type species is now known as Schefflera stellata.Heptapleurum In: Index Nominum Genericorum. In: Regnum Vegetabile (see External links below). Earl Edward Sherff did not consider the two species named by Mann to be truly distinct. He included both in Tetraplasandra kavaiensis, which he divided into eight varieties, including T. kavaiensis var. dipyrena.

From 1864 to 1868, Berthold Carl Seemann published a series of articles in the Journal of Botany, British and Foreign, all of which were entitled "Revision of the natural order Hederaceae".Berthold Carl Seeman. 1864 - 1868. "Revision of the natural order Hederaceae". Journal of Botany, British and Foreign vol. 2(1864):235-250, 289-309 – vol. 3(1865):73-81, 173-181, 265-276, 361-363 – vol. 4(1866):352-353 – vol. 5(1867):236-239, 285-286 – vol. 6(1868):129-142. (see External links below). In 1868, he published a book by the same title.Berthold Carl Seemann. 1868. Revision of the Natural Order Hederaceae: Being a Reprint, with Numerous Additions and Corrections, of a Series of Papers Published in the "Journal of Botany" British and Foreign. Original publisher: Reeve and Company. Reprint: Book on Demand Pod. (See External links below). He divided what later became Hawaiian Tetraplasandra into four genera. He maintained Tetraplasandra for T. hawaiensis and created two new genera; Triplasandra, for Asa Gray's Gastonia oahuensis and Dipanax for Mann's Tetraplasandra dipyrena. He placed Mann's Tetraplasandra kavaiensis in Agalma,Page 103. In: Berthold Carl Seemann. 1868. Revision of the Natural Order Hederaceae: Being a Reprint, with Numerous Additions and Corrections, of a Series of Papers Published in the "Journal of Botany" British and Foreign. Original publisher: Reeve and Company. Reprint: Book on Demand Pod. (See External links below). a genus that Friedrich A.W. Miquel had established in 1856.Agalma in International Plant Names Index. (see External links below).Friedrich A.W. Miquel. 1856. Bonplandia 4:138. (See External links below).

In 1873, Heinrich Wawra von Fernsee named a new species from Kauai as Tetraplasandra waimeae.Heinrich Wawra von Fernsee. 1873. Beiträge zur flora der hawai'schen inseln. 56:158.

In 1888, in the first flora of the Hawaiian Islands, Wilhelm B. Hillebrand raised Horace Mann Jr's Pterotropia to generic rank as Pterotropia. He added to it, a new species from Oahu, which he named Pterotropia gymnocarpa.Wilhelm B. Hillebrand (published posthumously by William Francis Hillebrand). 1888. Flora of the Hawaiian Islands: 149-155. This work was published posthumously by his son, William Francis Hillebrand to whom the name Pterotropia is often incorrectly attributed. The name Pterotropia is now considered illegitimate because, while Pterotropia is an older name, Dipanax is older at generic rank and therefore has priority.

Wilhelm B. Hillebrand put two species in Tetraplasandra: T. hawaiensis and T. waimeae. He placed four species in Triplasandra: Tri. oahuensis, Tri. meiandra, Tri. lydgatei, and Tri. kaalae. Three of these were newly named. Tetraplasandra waimeae is now known to be closer to T. oahuensis than to T. hawaiensis.

In 1898, in a monograph on Araliaceae for Die Natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien, Hermann Harms adopted Hillebrand's Pterotropia, but sank Triplasandra back into Tetraplasandra.Hermann A.T. Harms. 1898. pages 29-31 In: "Araliaceae". pages 1-62. In: H.G Adolf Engler and Karl A.E. Prantl. Die Natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien III.Teil. 8. Abteilung. (volume 3, part 8). Verlag von Wilhelm Engelmann: Leipzig, Germany. Harms accepted the six species that Hillebrand had placed in Triplasandra and Tetraplasandra. He also included in Tetraplasandra, the Malesian species that was later called Gastonia serratifolia and then Polyscias serratifolia.