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Centosteca lappacea

Mauku Tonga

Centosteca Grass

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Image:	Plant and flower head	37KB

General Information

COMMON NAMES: Centosteca Grass

TRADITIONAL NAMES: Mauku Ko‘eko‘e (RR AT), Ko‘eko‘e (MK); Other Polynesian - Sefa (SAM)

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE Africa - Asia - Malesia - Fiji - ?; EXOTIC EXOTIC ?Samoa - Cooks - ?

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Introduced - Polynesian, Naturalised; Land, lowlands - mountains (++++); in shady places

SIGNIFICANCE LIST: Medicine

KEY FEATURES: Perennial, ascending, glossy grass, to 100cm, usually to 50cm. STEMS 1-few ascending, or rooting at nodes. LEAVES glossy green, flat with transverse waves, to 15x3cm, tapering to both ends, tip sharp. FLOWERS terminal erect stalk to 15cm, with many lateral branches to 5cm, many descending; flowers (=spikelets) small, each to 3mm, green.

Cook Islands Distribution

View Distribution Map

Southern Group: Present Makatea: Present
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

Centosteca lappacea Linnaeus
SYNONYMS: Centrotheca lappacea [misspelt]

TAXONOMY: PLANTAE; ANTHOPHYTA (=Angiospermae); LILIOPSIDA (=Monocotyledones); COMMELINIDAE; Cyperales; POACEAE

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
None Recorded.

References:
p.1/297 A.C.Smith - Flora Vitiensis Nova
p.305 I Cheeseman - Flora of Rarotonga
p.17 R Wilder - Flora of Rarotonga
p.370b Whistler - Ethnobotany of the Cook Islands

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB02, zM06a, zD06a

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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