Acacia heterophylla

Acacia heterophylla, the highland tamarind,[2] is a tree (or shrub in its higher places) endemic to Réunion island where it is commonly named tamarin des hauts[1] The tree has a juvenile stage where its leaves have a pinnate arrangement, but in the adult stage the leaves diminish and the phyllode becomes the dominant photosynthetic structure.

Highland Tamarind
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Clade: Mimosoideae
Genus: Acacia
Species:
A. heterophylla
Binomial name
Acacia heterophylla
Synonyms

Acacia brevipes A.Cunn.
Acacia xiphoclada Baker
Mimosa heterophylla Lam.[1]

It has been introduced into Madagascar[3] where it grows in a subhumid climate at an altitude of about 500–1000 m above sea level.[3]

Genetic sequence analysis has shown its closest relative is Acacia koa of Hawaii; the estimated time of divergence is about 1.4 million years ago.[4][5] A. heterophylla sequences nest within those of the more diverse A. koa, making the latter species paraphyletic.[5] Both species are descended from an ancestral species in Australia, presumably their sister species, Acacia melanoxylon; the means of dispersal to Hawaii and then to Réunion (the latter trip a distance of 18,000 km) is thought to have been seed-carrying by birds such as petrels (the seeds of these species are not adapted for prolonged immersion in seawater).[5] Both species also have very similar ecological niches, which differ from that of A. melanoxylon.[5]

Acacia heterophylla flowers
A. heterophylla wood

References
  1. Catalogue of Life : 2007 Annual Checklist : Acacia heterophylla (Lam.)Willd. Archived September 1, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  2. Forestry Abstracts, University of Oxford Commonwealth Forestry Bureau, p.327, 1939
  3. "Acacia heterophylla". Madagascar Catalogue – via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
  4. Marris, E. (2014-06-19). "Tree hitched a ride to island". Nature. 510 (7505): 320–321. Bibcode:2014Natur.510..320M. doi:10.1038/510320a. PMID 24943937.
  5. Le Roux, J. J.; Strasberg, D.; Rouget, M.; Morden, C. W.; Koordom, M.; Richardson, D. M. (2014-06-18). "Relatedness defies biogeography: The tale of two island endemics (Acacia heterophyllaandA. Koa)". New Phytologist. 204 (1): 230–242. doi:10.1111/nph.12900. PMID 24942529.

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