Ocotea catharinensis

Ocotea catharinensis is a member of the plant family Lauraceae. It is a slow-growing evergreen, a valuable hardwood tree of broad ecological importance, and it is threatened by habitat loss and by overexploitation for its timber and essential oils.

Ocotea catharinensis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Magnoliids
Order: Laurales
Family: Lauraceae
Genus: Ocotea
Species:
O. catharinensis
Binomial name
Ocotea catharinensis
Mez.

Distribution

The tree is endemic to southeastern Brazil in the Atlantic Forest ecoregion.[1]

It is found in Paraná, Rio de Janeiro Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, and São Paulo states.[1][2]

It can be a dominant canopy tree in the tropical rainforests of these states. It grows on deep, rich, well-drained soils on slopes between 30–900 metres (98–2,953 ft) in elevation.

Description

Ocotea catharinensis is a slow-growing monoecious evergreen hardwood up to 40m tall. Its flowers are small and hermaphrodite. The ovary is glabrous with a well developed ovule. Often not all the locelli are fertile.

It is a honey-bearing tree and its fruits are eaten by birds and mammals, including the endangered monkey Brachyteles arachnoides.[3]

Uses

The tree is badly overexploited for its valuable hardwood, its essential oils with their (linalool) content, and for various pharmaceutical compounds or prospects such as neolignans.[4] From the early- to mid-20th century the wood was popular for the flooring of houses in the Brazilian coastal State of Santa Catarina.

Conservation

In 1997 it appeared in the IUCN Red List as a Vulnerable species, which it retains currently.[1] Since then it has been described as "on the verge of extinction" and research is being published on prospects for its somatic propagation.[5]

References
  1. Varty, N. & Guadagnin, D.L. 1998. Ocotea catharinensis. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Ver 2.3 . accessed 1 July 2017.
  2. Arboles de América: Ocotea catharinensis
  3. Paulo Backes & Bruno Irgang, Mata Atlântica - as árvores e a paisagem, Porto Alegre, 2004, Paisagem do Sul, page 211
  4. Lacava Lordello, Ana Luísa; Yoshida, Massayoshi (1997). "Neolignans from leaves of Ocotea catharinensis". Phytochemistry. 46 (4): 741–744. doi:10.1016/S0031-9422(97)00343-9.
  5. Santa Catarina, Claudete; dos Santos Olmedo, Alessandra; de Andrade Meyer, Geraldine; Macedo, Jonice; de Amorim, Wagner; Viana, Ana Maria (2004). "Repetitive Somatic Embryogenesis of Ocotea catharinensis Mez". Plant Cell, Tissue and Organ Culture. 78 (1): 55–62. doi:10.1023/B:TICU.0000020395.40974.8a. S2CID 24955730.

Further reading
  • Irgang, B. E; Backes, Paulo. Mata Atlântica. As Árvores e a Paisagem. 1. ed. Porto Alegre: Paisagem do Sul, 2004. 393 p.
  • Klein, R.M. Ecologia da flora e vegetação do Vale do Itajaí. Sellowia, 30 e 31. 1979–1980.
  • Reitz,R.; Klein,R.M.; Reis,A. Projeto Madeira de Santa Catarina. 1978. 320 p.


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