Mischarytera facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Mischarytera |
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| Mischarytera lautereriana, Corduroy or Rose Tamarind, by Tatiana Gerus, 19 January 2011, planted young specimen tree, Brisbane | |
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Scientific classification  |
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| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Sapindales |
| Family: | Sapindaceae |
| Subfamily: | Sapindoideae |
| Genus: | Mischarytera (Radlk.) H.Turner |
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See text |
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Mischarytera is a group of interesting rainforest trees. They are part of a larger plant family known as Sapindaceae. This family also includes many other well-known plants, like lychee and maple trees!
Scientists currently know about four different types, or "species," of Mischarytera trees. You can find these trees growing naturally in the eastern parts of Queensland, Australia, and also in New Guinea. Before 1995, these trees were known by slightly different names, under a genus called Arytera.
Discovering New Species
In 2006, a botanist named Paul I. Forster officially described a new species. He named it Mischarytera megaphylla. He found this tree in the Daintree Rainforest region of north-eastern Queensland, Australia. This area is part of the larger Wet Tropics region.
Mischarytera megaphylla is special because it is "endemic" to this small area. This means it grows naturally only there and nowhere else in the world! Before it got its official name, people knew it by informal names like Mischarytera sp. Oliver Creek.
Meet the Mischarytera Species
There are four known species of Mischarytera trees. Each one has its own unique features and places where it grows.
- Mischarytera bullata
- This species is found only in New Guinea. It is endemic to that region.
- Mischarytera lautereriana
- This tree is also known as the Corduroy Tamarind.
- You can find it growing naturally in Queensland, Australia. It stretches from the northeast to the southeast parts of the state.
- Mischarytera macrobotrys
- This species grows in the Cape York Peninsula in Queensland, Australia.
- It is also found in New Guinea.
- Mischarytera megaphylla
- This is the species that Paul I. Forster officially described in 2006.
- It is endemic to the lowland Daintree Rainforest region in north-eastern Queensland.
