Ungeria is a monotypic genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Malvaceae. It just contains one species, Ungeria floribunda Schott & Endl.[1] It is also in the Helicteroideae subfamily and Helictereae tribe.[2]
Its native range is Norfolk Island (in the Pacific Ocean near Australia).[1] It is found in Mount Pitt Nature Reserve (part of Norfolk Island National Park).[3]
It is a tree that can grow up to 15m (49feet) tall.[4] It has leaves which are broadly elliptic or obovate and evergreen.[5] The leaf blades are about 6- long and 4- wide.[3] It has deep pink flowers.[5] The flowers each have five deep pink petals 16- long and it thought to be pollinated by birds. The fruits are 5 lobed and star-shaped in cross-section.[3]
Moths of Austrocarea iocephala subspecies millsi can be found on the tree.[6]
It is related (dna wise) to the Durian.[3]
It has the common name of 'Bastard Oak', (due to the inferior quality of the timber,[3]) was listed as Vulnerable in 2003 on Norfolk Island.[7] 502 plants were counted in 2003.[3]
The genus name of Ungeria is in honour of Franz Unger (1800–1870), an Austrian botanist, paleontologist and plant physiologist.[8] The Latin specific epithet of floribunda means "many-flowering", (such as Floribunda).[9] Both the genus and sole species were first described and published in Meletemata Botanica (Melet. Bot.) on page 27 in 1832.[1] The genus is recognized by the United States Department of Agriculture and the Agricultural Research Service, but they do not list any known species.[2]
On 14 January 2020, an image of Ungeria floribunda was used on a postage stamp for Australia, one of two 'Norfolk Island Early Botanical Art' stamps.[4]