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Boehmeria nivea

Ramie

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General Information

COMMON NAMES: Ramie, China Grass, Chinese Grass, Chinese Silk Plant, Rhea; German Ramie, Chinesische Nessel

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE Japan - Malaysia

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Introduced - Recent, Naturalised; Land, lowlands

SIGNIFICANCE LIST: Material (Fibre-elsewhere)

KEY FEATURES: FORM: shrub, 2m, hispid stems. LEAVES: alternate, pet. 4cm, 3 main basal veins, wide-oval, 15x9cm, sm. sharp teeth, acuminate tip, green above, pale-tomentose below. FLOWERS: axillary, clustered stalk, small. NOTE: contains the strongest bast fibres known, but they are too smooth to cohere and too difficult to extract to make commercial fibre.

Cook Islands Distribution

View Distribution Map

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

Northern Group:
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW
-

Key to Symbols

blank	no data
-	absent	L	localised
X	extinct 'naturally'	W	widespread
XQi	quarantine intercepted	R	recent
XQe	eradicated	?	query preceding category
P	present	T?	taxonomic query
S	seasonal	nn	present, said to have no name
O	occasional	?1	present, name not investigated
++++	very common	?2	presence not verified, no name recorded
+++	common	N/A	absent, name not expected
++	uncommon
+	rare
Cook Islands islands: RR =Rarotonga, MG = Mangaia, AT =‘Ātiu, MK=Ma‘uke, MT=Miti‘āro, AK=Aitutaki, PL=Palmerston, PN=Penrhyn, MN=Manuae, TK=Takūtea, TN=Tongareva (TS=Tongaleva Spoken, TW=Tongareva Written, they say "el" but write "r"), MH=Manihiki, RK=Rakahanga, PK=Pukapuka, NS=Nassau, SW=Suwarrow. After a Polynesian name: ^=orthography query. Countries and other: FIJ=Fiji, WT=Wallis & Futuna, SAM=Samoa, TON=Tonga, NIU=Niue, CK=Cook Islands, CKM=Cook Islands Māori, FP=French Polynesia, AUS=Australs, SOC=Societies, TAH=Tahiti, TUA=Tuamotus, MQS=Marquesas, MNG=Mangareva, PIT=Pitcain group, EAS=Easter Island, HAW=Hawai‘i, NZ=New Zealand, NZM=New Zealand Māori

Scientific Taxonomy

Boehmeria nivea Linnaeus
TAXONOMY: PLANTAE; ANTHOPHYTA (=Angiospermae); MAGNOLIOPSIDA (=Dicotyledones); HAMAMELIDAE; Urticales; URTICACEAE

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
None Recorded.

References:
p.318 Neal - In Gardens of Hawaii
p.168 Hortus 3rd
p.157 Royal Hort. Soc. Index of Garden Plants
p.2/239 A.C.Smith - Flora Vitiensis Nova

Data Update History (information):
zB02, zD02

Web Resources

Citation Information

McCormack, Gerald (2007) Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga. Online at http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org.
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