Lomatia
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Authority
Prance, Ghillean T., et al. 2007. Proteaceae. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 100: 1-218. (Published by NYBG Press)
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Family
Proteaceae
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Scientific Name
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Type
Type. L. silaifolia (Sm.) R. Brown. The generic name is derived from the Greek word for margin in reference to the seeds, where the raphe runs very near the wing margin.
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Synonyms
Tricondylus, Lomatia silaifolia (Sm.) R.Br.
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Description
Genus Description - Shrubs, or small trees, to 12 m tall, twigs longitudinally ridged, pubescent when young, becoming glabrous and lenticellate, often with outer bark buff, membranous, and peeling. Leaves coriaceous, simple, pinnate or bipinnate, (rarely tripinnate), spirally arranged, subsessile to petiolate, the margins revolute (occasionally only raised), entire or serrate; young foliage pubescent or densely pilose, becoming glabrous, particularly above, often remaining sparsely pilose below. Inflorescences axillary racemes (occasionally terminal on short lateral shoots), few to many flowered, pubescent or occasionally pilose; flowers arranged spirally in pairs, each pair subtended by a rapidly caducous bracteole; flower buds laterally swollen at apex; perianth pubescent or pilose, often most hairy on the anther pouches, glabrous within, tubular but splitting into four segments as the gynoecium expands after pollination; in open flowers the perianth segments in pairs of different length, the shorter segments adjacent to the nectary; gynoecium glabrous to pubescent; ovary stipitate, widest at center; ovules many (2 × 5 to 2 × 1), ascending in two imbricate rows; style apex round and umbonate or round to ovate with edges swollen above and irregularly lobed; stamens 4, in pouches at the tips of the perianth segments; anthers subsessile; hypogynous nectary glands three, entire or 2-lobed. Fruit a bilaterally symmetrical dehiscent follicle, stipitate and with the whole style and style apex persistent or only present as a small point at the fruit apex; surface dark brown to black, longitudinally ridged and/or minutely tuberculate. Seeds numerous, flat, winged, and separated by thin dissepiments; wing membranous, buff, with a peripheral vascular strand, rarely intruding from the margin; with a small membranous extension at the tip of the seed; cotyledons thin, ± round with the radicle in a groove between them so that only its tip is visible.
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Discussion
Endlicher (1837) recognized two sections within this genus based on differences in the seed wing and quality of the seed. The section Eulomatia (= Lomatia) encompasses all of the Australian species, and the section Amphiloma contains the South American species. These sections, although extant, are not commonly used, mostly due to the small size of the genus.
Distribution and Ecology: This genus consists of 12 species, nine of which are endemic to eastern Australia, where they are found from northern Queensland to Tasmania. The remaining three species are endemic to South America and are most common in the temperate regions from central Ecuador along the Andes to Peru, Chile, and Argentina. At higher latitudes in Ecuador and Peru, they occur between 2400 and 3000 m alt. in montane forest or scrub. In Chile and Argentina they occur between sea level and 1800 m alt. Here they are commonly forest understory trees, but due to their tolerance to both damp shady areas and brighter dryer areas, they may also be found in wet shrubland or in poor dry rocky soils. They occasionally produce pure stands in the forest understory.