Schefflera

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

iSchefflera

Schefflera actinophylla

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Apiales
Family:	Araliaceae
Genus:	Schefflera J.R.Forst. & G.Forst.

Species

See text.

A variegated cultivar of Schefflera arboricola

Schefflera is a genus in the flowering plant family Araliaceae. The plants are trees, shrubs or lianas growing 1-30 m tall, with woody stems and palmately compound leaves.

Schefflera species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Batrachedra arenosella (recorded on S. stellata).

Circumscription of the genus has varied greatly. Phylogenetic studies have shown that the widely used broad circumscription as a pantropical genus of over 700 species is polyphyletic, but it remains to be seen how this will affect the classification of the genus. Generic names currently treated in synonymy in this broad view include Brassaia, Didymopanax, Dizygotheca, Heptapleurum, Neocussonia, Paratropia, Plerandra, Tupidanthus.

Schefflera wallichiana

Selected species

Schefflera actinophylla (syn. Brassaia actinophylla)
Schefflera arboricola (syn. Heptapleurum arboricolum)
Schefflera bractescens
Schefflera delavayi
Schefflera digitata
Schefflera elegantissima (syn. Dizygotheca elegantissima)
Schefflera elliptica
Schefflera heptaphylla
Schefflera kerchoveiana
Schefflera littorea (syn. Brassaia littorea)
Schefflera longifolia
Schefflera morototoni (syn. Didymopanax morototoni)
Schefflera octostyla
Schefflera panamensis
Schefflera pubens
Schefflera pubigera
Schefflera pueckleri (syn. Tupidanthus calyptratus)
Schefflera robusta
Schefflera rodriguesiana
Schefflera rotundifolia (syn. Paratropia rotundifolia)
Schefflera roxburghii
Schefflera sciadophyllum
Schefflera seibertii
Schefflera sphaerocoma
Schefflera stellata
Schefflera systyla
Schefflera tomentosa
Schefflera tremula
Schefflera umbellifera (syn. Neocussonia umbellifera)
Schefflera urbaniana
Schefflera veitchii (syn. Dizygotheca veitchii)
Schefflera venulosa

[edit] Cultivation and uses

Several species are grown in pots as houseplants. Numerous cultivars have been selected for various characters, most popularly for variegated or purple foliage.

[edit] References

Frodin, D. G. and R. Govaerts. 2004. World Checklist and Bibliography of Araliaceae. Kew Publishing.
Plunkett, G. M., P. P. Lowry, D. G. Frodin and J. Wen. 2005. Phylogeny and geography of Schefflera: pervasive polyphyly in the largest genus of Araliaceae. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 92: 202-224.