Uncinia

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Uncinia
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Monocots
(unranked): Commelinids
Order: Poales
Family: Cyperaceae
Tribe: Cariceae
Genus: Uncinia
Pers.
Type species
Uncinia australis
Pers.[1]

Uncinia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cyperaceae, known as hook-sedges in Australia[2] and as hook grasses or bastard grasses in New Zealand.[3] The genus is characterised by the presence of a long hook formed by an extension of the rachilla,[4] which is used to attach the fruit to passing animals (epizoochory), especially birds,[5] and it is this feature which gives the genus its name, from the Latin uncinus, meaning a hook or barb.[6]

Systematics

Uncinia is a "satellite genus" of the very large genus Carex, alongside other satellites such as Cymophyllus, Kobresia, Schoenoxiphium, Vesicarex.[7] Uncinia seems to form a monophyletic group, with the most distinct species being U. kingii, a species which has sometimes been placed in the genus Carex.[4] Similarly, Carex microglochin has sometimes been included in Uncinia, as U. microglochin.[8]

Distribution

Uncinia has a Gondwanan distribution,[4] with most species found Australia, New Zealand and South America,[2] as far north as Mexico and Jamaica.[9] Of the 50–60 species, 30 are endemic to New Zealand,[10] 6 are endemic to the east coast of Australia,[2] and 4 are endemic to the Juan Fernández Islands.[11] Smaller numbers of species are also found in New Guinea, Borneo, the Philippines, Hawaii, Tristan da Cunha, Kerguelen, Île Amsterdam, Île Saint-Paul, and the Prince Edward Islands, although none are known from the mainland of Africa.[9] This distribution suggests that the genus had an origin in Antarctica.[12]

It contains the following species:

References

  1. ↑ "Uncinia". Flora of Australia Online. Australian National Botanic Gardens. Retrieved 2009-11-19. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 National Herbarium of New South Wales. "Genus Uncinia". New South Wales Flora Online. Retrieved 2009-11-17. 
  3. ↑ Peter Johnson (2009). "Wetlands — Reeds, rushes, sedges and low growers'". Te Ara — the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Julian R. Starr & Bruce A. Ford (2009). "Phylogeny and evolution in Cariceae (Cyperaceae): current knowledge and future directions". The Botanical Review 75 (1): 110–137. doi:10.1007/s12229-008-9020-x. 
  5. ↑ Charles T. Bryson and Richard Carter (2008). "The Significance of Cyperaceae as Weeds". In Robert A. Naczi & Bruce A. Ford. Sedges: Uses, Diversity, and Systematics of the Cyperaceae. Missouri Botanical Garden Press. pp. 15–101. ISBN 1-930723-72-5. 
  6. ↑ "Uncinia". Flora of Australia Online. Australian National Botanic Gardens. Retrieved 2009-11-19. 
  7. ↑ Julian Richard Starr (2002). "Systematics of Uncinia Pers. (Cyperaceae)". Oxford Plant Systematics 9: 4–5. 
  8. ↑ Julian R. Starr, Stephen A. Harris and David A. Simpson (2004). "Phylogeny of the unispicate taxa in Cyperaceae Tribe Cariceae I: generic relationships and evolutionary scenarios". Systematic Botany 29 (3): 528–544. doi:10.1600/0363644041744455. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 E. Nelmes (1949). "Notes on Cyperaceae: XX. The genus Uncinia in Malaysia". Kew Bulletin 4 (2): 140–145. JSTOR 4113666. 
  10. ↑ L. B. Moore & E. Edgar (1970). "Uncinia Pers., 1807". Flora of New Zealand. Volume II: Indigenous Tracheophyta — Monocotyledons except Graminae. ISBN 0-477-01889-0. 
  11. ↑ Gerald A. Wheeler (2007). "Carex and Uncinia (Cyperaceae, Cariceae) from the Juan Fernández archipelago, Chile". Darwiniana 45 (1). 
  12. ↑ E. Nelmes (1951). "Facts and speculations on phylogeny in the Tribe Cariceae of the Cyperaceae". Kew Bulletin 6 (3): 427–436. JSTOR 4118022. 
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