Eugenia palumbis explained

Eugenia palumbis (Chamorro: agatélang[1] [2]) is a shrub with edible fruits in the family Myrtaceae. It is endemic to the Mariana Islands, including Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.[3] [4] [5]

Description

Eugenia palumbis is a bush or small tree 5 to 15 feet tall.[6] [7] [8]

Stems and leaves are smooth, except for the younger branchlets and calyces. Branches and twigs are thin and brown.

Leaf petioles are only 3 mm or less. Leaves are somewhat coriaceous and dark green but younger leaves are membranous and reddish or pale green. The underside is punctate with small scattered glands. Leaves are nearly symmetrical, elliptic or ovate-elliptic, 3.5 to 5.5 cm long. The base forms an acute angle, and the apex is obtuse. Leaf margins are slightly recurved. Leaves have about 6 slender and obscure lateral nerves per side, which form subtle loose anastomoses.

Flowers are white. Merrill found the species distinctive because of its "small, axillary, solitary, very shortly pedicelled flowers" not larger than 1 cm in diameter. Pedicelled are stout at about 2 mm diameter. The calyx is papery, glandular, greenish, and funnel-shaped, 3 to 3.5 mm long and 3 mm wide, consisting of 4 oval-shaped lobes.[9] Stamens are indefinite. Filaments are 2 to 3 mm long; anthers 0.7 mm long. Petals are not seen.

Fruits are round, about 6 to 8 mm diameter, orange initially and ripening to bright red.[10] [11] [12] Fruits are edible and sweet tasting.[8]

Distribution, habitat, and conservation status

The species has been observed on Guam,[13] Rota,[14] Aguiguan,[15] Tinian,[16] Saipan,[17] and Pagan.[18] It is found on limestone cliffs,[10] sloping limestone terraces, sandy flats, and in primary and secondary limestone forests.[19] On Pagan it has been observed growing from volcanic rocks.[20] It can be found at least as high as 500 feet above sea level.[21]

As of 2023, the species has not been assessed by the IUCN.[22]

Ecology

Eugenia palumbis can serve as a phorophyte of the threatened orchid Tuberolabium guamense.[23] [24]

A review of entomological surveys[25] [26] [27] found no insects reported to be collected from Eugenia palumbis specifically, although two insect species were reported from unspecified Eugenia species on Guam, including a hymenoptera wasp (Euplectrus leucostomus)[28] and a fruit fly (Dacus (Strumeta) ochrosiae).[29]

History

Gaudichaud in 1826 reported seeing a Eugenia species that went by the names of hadela and agatelon.[30] The former name has not reappeared in the literature since Gaudichaud's report.

The species was first known to be collected in 1906 by German immigrant Hermann L. Costenoble, who would later become Guam's chief forester.[31] In 1914, American botanist Elmer D. Merrill used Costenoble's preserved specimens to name and describe Eugenia palumbis as a new species in the Philippine Journal of Science, as well as recording the indigenous name, agatelang. Merrill named the species after the elderly Padre José Palomo, the first CHamorro Catholic priest who, Merrill acknowledged, had helped the new American administration learn about the island, including providing some botanical material.[32] Safford in 1905 recorded the indigenous CHamorro names agatelang and agatílon,[33] while Fosberg in 1945 spelled it agatelong,[19] and Falanruw in 1990 used agatélang.[34]

The wood is hard and very flexible, and has been used to make axe handles, and booms for ox-carts.[7] Safford in 1905 reported the wood was used in the construction of houses and ranchos, although he admitted he was never able to identify a specimen.

See also

Notes and References

  1. Merrill . E.D. . 1914 . An enumeration of the plants of Guam . The Philippine Journal of Science . IX . 121–122 . Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL).
  2. Book: Falanruw, Marjorie V. C. . Common and scientific names of trees and shrubs of Mariana, Caroline, and Marshall Islands . U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station . 1990 . Berkeley, Calif. . 48.
  3. Web site: Agatelang Eugenia palumbis Native Plants of Guam . March 2017 . University of Guam.
  4. Raulerson, L., & A. Rinehart. Trees and Shrubs of the Mariana Islands. 1992.
  5. Web site: Eugenia palumbis Merr. Plants of the World Online Kew Science . 2023-06-04 . Plants of the World Online . en.
  6. Web site: Image zoom . 2023-06-06 . www.gbif.org.
  7. Web site: Image zoom . 2023-06-06 . www.gbif.org.
  8. Web site: Image zoom . 2023-06-06 . www.gbif.org.
  9. Web site: Image zoom . 2023-06-06 . www.gbif.org.
  10. Web site: Image zoom . 2023-06-06 . www.gbif.org.
  11. Web site: Image zoom . 2023-06-06 . www.gbif.org.
  12. Web site: Image zoom . 2023-06-06 . www.gbif.org.
  13. Web site: Program . PACN Vegetation . 2019-10-11 . Agatelang (Eugenia palumbis) . 2023-06-06 . iNaturalist . en.
  14. Web site: Crytser . Zia Best . 2019-08-15 . Agatelang (Eugenia palumbis) . 2023-06-06 . iNaturalist . en.
  15. Web site: Image zoom . 2023-06-06 . www.gbif.org.
  16. Web site: islandfletch . 2022-04-13 . Agatelang (Eugenia palumbis) . 2023-06-06 . iNaturalist . en.
  17. Web site: Cantley . Jason . Agatelang (Eugenia palumbis) . 2023-06-06 . iNaturalist . 2 February 2020 . en.
  18. Web site: Specimen collected 1984 . 2023-06-06 . www.gbif.org.
  19. Web site: Image zoom . 2023-06-06 . www.gbif.org.
  20. Web site: Image zoom . 2023-06-06 . www.gbif.org.
  21. Web site: Image zoom . 2023-06-06 . www.gbif.org.
  22. Web site: IUCN Red List .
  23. Web site: Federal Register :: Request Access . 2023-07-02 . unblock.federalregister.gov.
  24. Demeulenaere . Else . Putnam . Matthew . Fiedler . G. Curt . 2018 . Threatened and Endangered Plant Surveys of Northwest Field . 23, 41.
  25. Book: Insects of Guam-I . Bernice P. Bishop Museum . 1942 . Honolulu, HI.
  26. Book: Insects of Guam-II . Bernice P. Bishop Museum . 1946 . Honolulu, HI.
  27. Insects of Micronesia. 1954–2017 – via Bishop Museum. http://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/PUBS-ONLINE/iom.html
  28. Yoshimoto . Carl M. . Ishii . Tei . 1965 . Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea: Eulophidae, Encyrtidae (part), Pteromalidae . Insects of Micronesia . 19 . 4 . 130 . Bishop Museum.
  29. Hardy . D. Elmo . Adachi . Marian . 1956 . Tephritidae . Insects of Micronesia . 14 . 1 . 11 . Bishop Museum.
  30. Book: Freycinet . Louis Claude Desaulses de . Voyage autour du monde, entrepris par ordre du roi. Exécuté sur les corvettes de S.M. l'Uranie et la Physicienne, pendant les années 1817, 1818, 1819 et 1820 . Arago . Jacques . Bevalet . Antoine-Germain . Blanchard . E. . Chazal . Antoine . Clermont-Tonnerre . Aimé-Marie-Gaspard . Corbière . Jacques Joseph . Coutant . L. . Eudes-Deslongchamps . Chez Pillet aîné . 1826 . 4 . Paris . 82.
  31. Web site: » Gertrude Costenoble Hornbostel . 2023-06-06 . www.guampedia.com. 11 March 2012 .
  32. Web site: » Padre Jose Bernardo Palomo . 2023-06-06 . www.guampedia.com. October 2009 .
  33. Book: Safford, William Edwin . The useful plants of the Island of Guam; with an introductory account of the physical features and natural history of the island, of the character and history of its people, and of their agriculture . Govt. Print. Off . 1905 . Washington . 175, 270.
  34. Book: Falanruw, Marjorie V. C. . Common and scientific names of Trees and Shrubs of Mariana, Caroline, and Marshall Islands . U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station . Berkeley, Calif. . 48.

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