Trochodendron 3834711 221733542 2008-06-25T21:12:39Z Rickjpelleg 172198 /* Categories */ Added Monogeneric plant families, Monotypic plant genera {{Taxobox | name = ''Trochodendron aralioides'' | image = Trochodendron-aralioides-flowers.JPG | image_width = 240px | regnum = [[Plant]]ae | divisio = [[Flowering plant|Magnoliophyta]] | classis = [[Dicotyledon|Mangnoliopsida]] | ordo = [[Trochodendrales]] | familia = '''Trochodendraceae''' [[Karl Anton Eugen Prantl|Prantl]] | genus = '''''Trochodendron''''' [[Philipp Franz von Siebold|Siebold]] & [[Joseph Gerhard Zuccarini|Zucc.]] | species = '''''T. aralioides''''' | binomial = ''Trochodendron aralioides'' | binomial_authority = Siebold & Zucc. }} '''''Trochodendron aralioides''''' is a [[flowering plant]], the sole species in the genus '''''Trochodendron'''''. It is also often considered the sole species in the family '''Trochodendraceae''', though some botanists include the very distinct genus ''[[Tetracentron]]'' in the same family. ''Trochodendron'' is native to southern [[Japan]], southern [[Korea]] and [[Taiwan]]; it has no widely used common name in English, though is sometimes colloquially called "wheel tree". It is an [[evergreen]] [[tree]] or large [[shrub]] growing to 20 m tall. The [[leaf|leaves]] are borne in tight spirals at the apex of the years' growth, each leaf leathery dark green, simple broad lanceolate, 6-14 cm long and 3-8 cm broad, with a crenate margin. The [[flower]]s are produced 10-20 together in a [[raceme|racemose]] [[inflorescence|cyme]] 5-13 cm diameter; each flower is 15-18 mm diameter, yellowish green, without petals, but with a conspicuous ring of 40-70 [[stamen]]s surrounding the 4-11 [[carpel]]s. The [[fruit]] is 2 cm diameter, woody, star-shaped, composed of 4-11 [[follicle (fruit)|follicles]], each follicle containing several [[seed]]s. ''Trochodendron'' shares with ''Tetracentron'' the feature, very unusual in [[flowering plant|angiosperms]], of lacking [[vessel element]]s in its [[wood]]. This has long been considered a very primitive character, resulting in the classification of these two genera in a basal position in the angiosperms; however, genetic research by the [[Angiosperm Phylogeny Group]] has shown it to be in a less basal position (early in the [[eudicot]]s), suggesting the absence of vessel elements is a secondarily evolved character, not a primitive one. ==External links== *[http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200007097 Flora of China: ''Trochodendron''] *[http://delta-intkey.com/angio/www/trochode.htm Trochodendraceae] in [http://delta-intkey.com/angio/ L. Watson and M.J. Dallwitz (1992 onwards). The families of flowering plants.] [[Category:Plant families]] [[Category:Trees]] [[Category:Monotypic plant genera]] [[Category:Monogeneric plant families]] [[es:Trochodendron]] [[ja:ヤマグルマ]]