Scalesia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Scalesia
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Asterales Family: Asteraceae Tribe: Heliantheae Genus: Scalesia Joseph Dalton Hooker
Species
Scalesia affinis Scalesia aspera Scalesia atractyloides Scalesia baurii Scalesia cordata Scalesia crockeri Scalesia divisa Scalesia gordilloi Scalesia helleri Scalesia incisa Scalesia microcephala Scalesia pedunculata Scalesia retroflexa Scalesia stewartii Scalesia villosa

Scalesia is a genus in the family Asteraceae endemic to the Galapagos Islands. It contains fifteen species displaying shrub or arborescent habit. It is unusual because tree species are rare in Asteraceae.

All of the species have soft, pithy wood.

Scalesia species have been called "the Darwin's finches of the plant world" because they show a similarly dramatic pattern of adaptive radiation.

Scalesia pedunculata is a large tree species which grows up to ten meters tall. They reach maturity in about fifteen years. The trees typically grow in stands of the same species and the same age. They die around the same time, and then a new generation of seedlings grow in the same place.

Scalesia atractyloides and Scalesia stewartii are two small tree species, very similar to each other.

[edit] Source

• Eliasson, U.H. 1974. Studies in Galapagos Plants XIV. The Genus Scalesia Arn.Opera Botanica, 36: 1-117