Baeckea gunniana: Difference between revisions
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'''''Baeckea gunniana,''''' commonly known as '''alpine baeckea,''' is a species of a compact, densely branched evergreen shrub, growing in alpine and sub-alpine Australia<ref name="UTAS" />. ''[[Baeckea]]'' is a genus of flowering plants in the myrtle family, [[Myrtaceae]], comprising 14 species occurring in eastern Australia and Asia. |
'''''Baeckea gunniana,''''' commonly known as '''alpine baeckea,''' is a species of a compact, densely branched evergreen shrub, growing in alpine and sub-alpine Australia<ref name="UTAS" />. ''[[Baeckea]]'' is a genus of flowering plants in the myrtle family, [[Myrtaceae]], comprising 14 species occurring in eastern Australia and Asia<ref name=":0" />. |
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''Baeckea'' leaves are edible and often used as a tea substitute because of their aromatic citrus-like flavour<ref name="UTAS">{{Cite web|url=http://www.utas.edu.au/dicotkey/dicotkey/MYRTS/sBaeckea_gunnianus.htm|title=Key to Tasmanian Dicots|last=|first=|date=|website=|publisher=[[University of Tasmania]]|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2019-11-28}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Belcher|first=C.|last2=Leslie|first2=D.|date=2011|title=Broad-toothed RatMastacomys fuscusdistribution in Buccleuch, Bago and Maragle State Forests, NSW|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.7882/az.2011.007|journal=Australian Zoologist|volume=35|issue=3|pages=555–559|doi=10.7882/az.2011.007|issn=0067-2238|via=}}</ref>. Extracts from ''B. gunniana'' have been found to inhibit the activity of DNA Polymerase enzyme <ref>{{Cite journal|last=Deng|first=Jing-Zhen|last2=Starck|first2=Shelley R.|last3=Hecht|first3=Sidney M.|date=2019|title=DNA Polymerase β Inhibitors fromBaeckea gunniana|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/np990240w|journal=Journal of Natural Products|volume=62|issue=12|pages=1624–1626|doi=10.1021/np990240w|issn=0163-3864|via=}}</ref>. It forms an integral part of the [[Broad-toothed mouse]] habitat in NSW, Australia, providing protection from predators and other large grazers<ref name=":1" />. |
''Baeckea'' leaves are edible and often used as a tea substitute because of their aromatic citrus-like flavour<ref name="UTAS">{{Cite web|url=http://www.utas.edu.au/dicotkey/dicotkey/MYRTS/sBaeckea_gunnianus.htm|title=Key to Tasmanian Dicots|last=|first=|date=|website=|publisher=[[University of Tasmania]]|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2019-11-28}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Belcher|first=C.|last2=Leslie|first2=D.|date=2011|title=Broad-toothed RatMastacomys fuscusdistribution in Buccleuch, Bago and Maragle State Forests, NSW|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.7882/az.2011.007|journal=Australian Zoologist|volume=35|issue=3|pages=555–559|doi=10.7882/az.2011.007|issn=0067-2238|via=}}</ref>. Extracts from ''B. gunniana'' have been found to inhibit the activity of DNA Polymerase enzyme <ref>{{Cite journal|last=Deng|first=Jing-Zhen|last2=Starck|first2=Shelley R.|last3=Hecht|first3=Sidney M.|date=2019|title=DNA Polymerase β Inhibitors fromBaeckea gunniana|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/np990240w|journal=Journal of Natural Products|volume=62|issue=12|pages=1624–1626|doi=10.1021/np990240w|issn=0163-3864|via=}}</ref>. It forms an integral part of the [[Broad-toothed mouse]] habitat in NSW, Australia, providing protection from predators and other large grazers<ref name=":1" />. |
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Revision as of 06:11, 15 December 2019
| Baeckea gunniana | |
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| Baeckea gunniana Photo © Greg Jordan. © 2019 University of Tasmania | |
Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Myrtales |
| Family: | Myrtaceae |
| Genus: | Baeckea |
| Species: | B. gunniana
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| Binomial name | |
| Baeckea gunniana Schauer ex Walp.
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| Occurrence distribution of Baeckea gunniana Atlas of Living Australia, Map data © OpenStreetMap, imagery © CartoDB | |
Baeckea gunniana, commonly known as alpine baeckea, is a species of a compact, densely branched evergreen shrub, growing in alpine and sub-alpine Australia[1]. Baeckea is a genus of flowering plants in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, comprising 14 species occurring in eastern Australia and Asia[2].
Baeckea leaves are edible and often used as a tea substitute because of their aromatic citrus-like flavour[1][3]. Extracts from B. gunniana have been found to inhibit the activity of DNA Polymerase enzyme [4]. It forms an integral part of the Broad-toothed mouse habitat in NSW, Australia, providing protection from predators and other large grazers[3].
Description
Baeckea gunniana is a smooth, compact shrub growing to 1.5 m high, although can reach up to 2 m at lower altitudes[5]. It is sometimes prostrate or spreading over rocks and boulders[6]. Branchlets are brown with a flat segment on a papery or fibrous brown bark[2]. Leaves are small (2-4 mm long; 0.6-0.8 mm wide) and crowded, obovate to oblong shaped with a blunt apex[5], and with entire margins and petioles c. 0.5 mm long[2]. The flowers are white, small and numerous, borne solitarily in the upper leaf axils[7]. Sepals are triangular and obtuse, with a corolla 4–5 mm in diameter and circular petals c. 1–1.8 mm long. Stamens 4–6, not opposite petals. The ovary has a single locule. Style is terete and only slightly inserted into the ovary summit[5]. The unilocular ovary, where the pendulous placenta and ovules are enclosed by a single membrane, is characteristic to the species and unique in the genus[2].
The fruit is green and cup-like when immature[7] and woody, dehiscent capsule at maturity[5]. Seeds are small and angular, remaining inconspicuous on the ground upon release[5][7]. Seed coat/covering or testa of some Baeckea species has been recorded to form a physical barrier inhibiting seed germination[5]. This may be reverted by removing or nicking the testa using a needle or scalpel, improving the rate of germination[5]. B. gunniana can also be vegetatively propagated from cuttings of semi-hardened new growth.
Distribution and Habitat
Distribution is restricted to alpine or subalpine regions, from Mt Ginini in ACT to south-west Tasmania[5][2]. Baeckea gunniana is most prevalent at high altitudes between 1000 to 1400 m. However, it has been observed to grow above 2000 m near Mt Kosciusko, and as low as 450 m in western Tasmania[2]. All species in the genus Baeckea are confined to Australia, except for the type species, B. frutescens (L.), which extends from eastern Australia through Malesia to China[2].
Baeckea gunniana is commonly found growing with species such as Callistemon pityoides, Epacris paludosa, and Empodisma minus, in heathlands or boggy sedgeland[2]. It is also common near creeks, and sometimes in shaded areas under Eucalyptus spp[5].
Taxonomy and Phylogeny
The species was first formally described by the German botanist Johannes Conrad Schauer in 1843[8] .
The closest Myrtaceae sensu stricto lineage is represented by two fleshy fruited (Myrcianthes and Acmena) and three dry fruited taxa. Angophora and Backhousia are sister genera to Baeckea, belonging to a dry-fruited lineage of Myrtaceae[9].
References
- ^ a b "Key to Tasmanian Dicots". University of Tasmania. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b c d e f g h Bean, Anthony (1997). "A revision of Baeckea (Myrtaceae) in eastern Australia, Malesia and south-east Asia". Telopea. 7 (3): 245–268. doi:10.7751/telopea19971018. ISSN 0312-9764.
- ^ a b Belcher, C.; Leslie, D. (2011). "Broad-toothed RatMastacomys fuscusdistribution in Buccleuch, Bago and Maragle State Forests, NSW". Australian Zoologist. 35 (3): 555–559. doi:10.7882/az.2011.007. ISSN 0067-2238.
- ^ Deng, Jing-Zhen; Starck, Shelley R.; Hecht, Sidney M. (2019). "DNA Polymerase β Inhibitors fromBaeckea gunniana". Journal of Natural Products. 62 (12): 1624–1626. doi:10.1021/np990240w. ISSN 0163-3864.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Baeckea gunniana - Growing Native Plants". Australian National Botanic Gardens. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Walsh, N. Entwisle, Timothy J. (1996). Flora of Victoria. Volume 3, dicotyledons Winteraceae to Myrtaceae. Inkata. ISBN 0-409-30852-8. OCLC 223634887.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ a b c "Flora of Victoria". vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
- ^ Australia, Atlas of Living. "Baeckea gunniana". bie.ala.org.au. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
- ^ Conti, Elena; Litt, Amy; Wilson, Peter G.; Graham, Shirley A.; Briggs, Barbara G.; Johnson, L. A. S.; Sytsma, Kenneth J. (1997). "Interfamilial Relationships in Myrtales: Molecular Phylogeny and Patterns of Morphological Evolution". Systematic Botany. 22 (4): 629. doi:10.2307/2419432. ISSN 0363-6445.
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