Planchonella

Planchonella
Planchonella sandwicensis in Hawaii
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Embryophytes
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Spermatophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Ericales
Family: Sapotaceae
Subfamily: Chrysophylloideae
Genus: Planchonella
Pierre
Type species
Planchonella obovata
Species

See list of Planchonella species

Synonyms[1]
  • Albertisiella Pierre ex Aubrév. (1964)
  • Beauvisagea Pierre (1890)
  • Blabeia Baehni (1964)
  • Boerlagella Pierre ex Cogn. (1891)
  • Boerlagia Pierre (1890), non Boerlagea Cogn.
  • Bureavella Pierre (1890)
  • Fontbrunea Pierre (1890)
  • Hormogyne A.DC. (1844), nom. rej.
  • Iteiluma Baill. (1891), nom. superfl.
  • Krausella H.J.Lam (1932)
  • Peuceluma Baill. (1890)
  • Poissonella Pierre (1890)
  • Pyriluma (Baill.) Aubrév. (1967)
  • Siderocarpus Pierre ex L.Planch. (1888)

Planchonella is a genus of flowering trees in the gutta-percha family, Sapotaceae. It contains around 110 mainly tropical species, which range from the Seychelles through Southeast Asia and New Guinea to northern and eastern Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands.[1] The highest species diversity of Planchonella is found in New Caledonia and New Guinea.[2]

The type species of the genus is Planchonella obovata.[3]

Taxonomy

The genus was described by the French botanist Jean Baptiste Louis Pierre in 1890. The genus was named in honour of French botanist Jules Émile Planchon.[4]

After its initial describal, Planchonella has gone through multiple rounds of synonymisation with other genera, often being included in Pouteria [5], and being recognised as a valid genus[3]. In 2007, the genus was reinstated based on a combination of ITS sequences and morphology.[6]

Description

Planchonella species are trees and shrubs of various sizes. The leaves are typically alternate, simple and entire, with distinct venation. The flowers of Planchonella are quite small, with 5-lobed, short and tubular corollas.[7] One distinguishing feature is that the stamens are attached to the corolla tube just below the tube orifice, as opposed to being inserted in the tube orifice as in the closely related Pichonia, or near the base as in Pleioluma.[8]

Human uses

Many species of Planchonella have edible fruits and have historically been a food source native peoples, including the species Planchonella australis found in Northeastern Australia.[9][10] Planchonella trees have also been harvested for timber.[11]

Selected species

References

  1. ^ a b Planchonella Pierre. Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  2. ^ Swenson, Ulf; Kearey, Jennifer; Do, Kent; Utteridge, Timothy M. A. (2026-03-01). "New species of Planchonella (Sapotaceae): one from Borneo and three from New Guinea". Kew Bulletin. 81 (1): 161–173. doi:10.1007/s12225-025-10310-y. ISSN 1874-933X.
  3. ^ a b Swenson, Ulf; Lepschi, Brendan; Hutabarat, Prima W.K.; Cronholm, Bodil; Nylinder, Stephan (June 2025). "Systematics of Planchonella Pierre: The largest Sapotaceae genus in subfamily Chrysophylloideae". Taxon. 74 (3): 616–661. doi:10.1002/tax.13320. ISSN 0040-0262.
  4. ^ "Planchonella". Flora of Australia Online. ABRS, Commonwealth of Australia. 1993.
  5. ^ Pennington, Terence D. (1990), "Sapotaceae.", Flora Neotropica Monograph 52, New York: New York Botanical Garden, ISBN 978-0-89327-344-6{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link)
  6. ^ Swenson, Ulf; Bartish, Igor V.; Munzinger, Jérôme (2007-03-21). "Phylogeny, diagnostic characters and generic limitation of Australasian Chrysophylloideae (Sapotaceae, Ericales): evidence from ITS sequence data and morphology". Cladistics. 23 (3): 201–228. doi:10.1111/j.1096-0031.2006.00141.x. ISSN 0748-3007.
  7. ^ Swenson, Ulf; Lepschi, Brendan; Hutabarat, Prima W.K.; Cronholm, Bodil; Nylinder, Stephan (2025). "Systematics of Planchonella Pierre: The largest Sapotaceae genus in subfamily Chrysophylloideae". TAXON. 74 (3): 616–661. doi:10.1002/tax.13320. ISSN 1996-8175.
  8. ^ Do, Kent; Swenson, Ulf (2025-12-01). "A new endemic species, Planchonella foveata (Sapotaceae), with an updated identification key to the genus in Fiji". Kew Bulletin. 80 (4): 965–973. doi:10.1007/s12225-025-10268-x. ISSN 1874-933X.
  9. ^ "Planchonella australis | Australian Plants Society". 2023-11-23. Retrieved 2026-06-12.
  10. ^ nmwecxjjxl (2021-10-24). "'The forest floor is covered in fruit': Bumper year for Black Apples". Big Scrub Rainforest Conservancy. Retrieved 2026-06-12.
  11. ^ Smith, Albert C. (1981-10-26), Flora Vitiensis nova : a new Flora of Fiji (spermatophytes only), vol. 2, Lawaii, Hawaii: Pacific Tropical Botanical Garden, pp. 744–782, doi:10.5962/bhl.title.44033, ISBN 978-0-915809-22-6, retrieved 2026-06-12