General Information

COMMON NAMES: Ascarina TRADITIONAL NAMES: Kaiatea (RR); Other Polynesian - Afia (SAM) GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE Solomons - Rarotonga COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Native; Land, mountains (+++) (Cloud forest) KEY FEATURES: A small spreading tree to 12m. LEAVES opposite and alternate, glossy, toothed, narrow-oval, to 15x5cm; stalk to 2cm. FLOWERS on drooping spikes, minute, green, without petals; each plant usually unisexual, but with a few clusters of male and female flowers adjacent. FRUIT oval, 3x2mm, ripening brown. SIMILAR SPECIES: Weinmannia samoensis (Kaiatea) has simple and compound leaves (vs simple only); and upright spikes of small flowers (vs pendent spikes).

Cook Islands Distribution

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Southern Group: Present    Makatea: -
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
+++	-	-	-	-	-	-		-

Northern Group: -
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW
-	-	-	-	-	-

Ascarina diffusa A.C. Sm.
SYNONYMS: Ascarina lanceolata [sensu TC/GW]

TAXONOMY: PLANTAE; ANTHOPHYTA (=Angiospermae); MAGNOLIOPSIDA (=Dicotyledones); MAGNOLIIDAE; Piperales; CHLORANTHACEAE

SIGNIFICANCE NOTES -. Comments: MATERIAL: Good hardwood timber, yellowish with darker grain.

IDENTIFICATION: A small sprawling tree to 12m. LEAVES opposite and alternate; light-green, glossy, with fine lacy veins; narrow-oval, to 15x5cm; tip sharp, edge toothed; stalk 5-25mm. FLOWERS on pendent spikes; each minute, without petals; plants usually unisexual, sometimes male and female flowers adjacent ("pseudo-bisexual flowers"). FRUIT very small, oval, 3x2mm, ripening red-brown. SEED one.

GENERAL NOTE: For the scientifically underchallenged. A monoecious plant has bisexual flowers or unisexual flowers of both gender, while a dioecious plant has unisexual flowers of one gender only. For Ascarina it is thought that the primitive condition was 1 male flower and 1 female flower in a cluster, called a Glomerule. A glomerule is not a bisexual flower, but a 'pseudo-bisexual flower', and a plant of this type is monoecious having both genders present. During flower development flowers of one gender are usually removed, leaving the plant as dioecious having unisexual flowers of one gender only. However, for our species, some male-female clusters remain making it monoecious, although it can at first seem to be dioecious. [adapted from Smith, Fiji Flora].

Vouchers:
None Recorded.

References:
p.2/099 A.C.Smith - Flora Vitiensis Nova
p.293 I Cheeseman - Flora of Rarotonga
p.39 Wilder - Flora of Rarotonga
p.416 Whistler - Ethnobotany of the Cook Islands
p.125 McCormack/Kunzle - Rarotonga's Mountain Tracks and Plants

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB02, zM02, zupM04b, zD02

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