Beautiful goetzea facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Beautiful goetzea |
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| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Goetzea
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| Species: |
elegans
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Goetzea elegans, also known as the beautiful goetzea or matabuey, is a special kind of plant. It belongs to the nightshade family, which includes plants like tomatoes and potatoes! This plant is a flowering plant that grows only in Puerto Rico.
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Discovering the Beautiful Goetzea
The beautiful goetzea is a shrub or a small tree. It can grow quite tall, sometimes reaching up to 9 meters (about 30 feet) high. Its leaves are shiny and dark green, shaped like ovals.
What Does It Look Like?
This plant has bright yellow-orange flowers that look like funnels. After the flowers, it grows a yellow-orange fruit. This fruit is a berry that can be up to 2.5 centimeters (about 1 inch) long. It's important to know that this fruit might be unsafe to eat.
Where Does It Live?
The beautiful goetzea is an endemic plant. This means it naturally grows only in one specific place in the world. For the beautiful goetzea, that place is Puerto Rico. Today, you can only find it in the northwestern part of the island.
Why Is It Endangered?
Sadly, the beautiful goetzea is an endangered species. This means there are very few of these plants left in the wild. One big reason for this is deforestation, which is when forests are cut down. People also use the land where these plants grow for other things. Because of these reasons, the plant has lost much of its natural home. The United States government has officially listed it as an endangered species to help protect it.
