Melhania melanoxylon (Sol. ex Sims) R.Br. (1812:146)
St. Helena ebony tree
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Synonyms: Pentapetes melanoxylon Sol. ex Sims in Bot. Mag. 25: t. 1000 (1807); Dombeya melanoxylon (Sol. ex Sims) Roxb. in A.Beatson, Tracts St. Helena: 307 (1816);Trochetia melanoxylon (Sol. ex Sims) Benth. in J. Proc. Linn. Soc., Bot. 6: 116 (1862); Trochetiopsis melanoxylon (Sol. ex Sims) Marais in Kew Bull. 36: 645 (1981)
Conservation Status
Extinct (Cronk, 1998; Baillie & Butcher, 2012:88; Lambdon & Ellick, 2016; Humphreys et al., 2019; Abeli et al., 2022b; Christenhusz & Govaerts, 2024; POWO, 2024)
Last record: 1771 (Cronk, 1998; Christenhusz & Govaerts, 2024)
IUCN RedList status: Extinct
Distribution
St. Helena
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Media
References
Abeli, Thomas, Sharrock, Suzanne and Albani Rocchetti, Giulia. (2022a). Out-of-date datasets hamper conservation of species close to extinction. ResearchSquare preprint. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-1250892/v1
Abeli, Thomas, Sharrock, Suzanne and Albani Rocchetti, Giulia. (2022b). Out-of-date datasets hamper conservation of species close to extinction. Nature Plants 8: 1370-1373. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-022-01293-w
America, S. (1999). St Helena. Biodiversity: the UK Overseas Territories, 101.
Antommarchi, F.C. 1825. Esquisse de la flore de Sainte Hélène. Barrois l’Aine, Paris.
Baillie, Jonathan E. M. and Butcher, Ellen R. (2012). Priceless or Worthless? The world’s most threatened species. London, UK: Zoological Society of London.
Banks, J. (1896). Journal of the Right Honourable Sir Joseph Banks during Captain Cook’s first voyage in HMS Endeavour. Hooker, J.D. (ed.). Macmillan & Co., London, U.K.
Beatson, A. (1816). An alphabetical list of plants seen by Dr Roxburgh growing on the island of St Helena. Tracts relative to the Island of St Helena, Appendix 1. W.Bulmer & Co., London, U.K.
Burchell, W.J. (1805-10). Flora Insulae Sanctae Helenae. Unpublished manuscript held at Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Richmond, U.K.
Carine, Mark and de Sequeira, Miguel Menezes. (2020). Sir Joseph Hooker on Insular Floras: human impact and the natural laboratory paradigm. Revista Scientia Insularum 3: 73-88. [photo of herbarium sheet containing the holotype]
Christenhusz, Maarten J. M. and Govaerts, Rafaël. (2023). Uitgestorven. Op plantenjacht rond de wereld: 1-511. Sterck & De Vreese.
Christenhusz, Maarten J. M. and Govaerts, Rafaël. (2024). Plant extinction in the Anthropocene. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society. https://doi.org/10.1093/botlinnean/boae045 [Appendix S1]
Cronk, Q. C. B. (1986). The decline of the St Helena ebony Trochetiopsis melanoxylon. Biological Conservation 35(2): 159-172. [Abstract]
Cronk, Q.B.C. 1995. A new species and hybrid in the St Helena endemic genus Trochetiopsis (Sterculiaceae). Edinburgh Journal of Botany 52: 205-213.
Cronk, Q. C. B. (1998). Trochetiopsis melanoxylon. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.3. (http://www.iucnredlist.org). Downloaded on 26 April 2015.
Cronk, Q. C. B. (2000). The Endemic Flora of St. Helena. Anthony Nelson Publishers, Oswestry, UK.
Dorr, Laurance J. and Wurdack, Kenneth J. (2021). Indo-Asian Eriolaena expanded to include two Malagasy genera, and other generic realignments based on molecular phylogenetics of Dombeyoideae (Malvaceae). Taxon 70(1): 99-126. https://doi.org/10.1002/tax.12370
Humphreys, Aelys M., Govaerts, Rafaël, Ficinski, Sarah Z., Lughadha, Eimear Nic and Vorontsova, Maria S. (2019). Global dataset shows geography and life form predict modern plant extinction and rediscovery. Nature Ecology & Evolution 3: 1043-1047. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-019-0906-2 [Supplementary Dataset 1]
Lambdon, P. (2012). Flowering Plants and Ferns of St Helena. Pisces Publications, Newbury, UK.
Lambdon, P. W. and Ellick, S. (2016). Trochetiopsis melanoxylon. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T30561A67372085. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-1.RLTS.T30561A67372085.en. Accessed on 19 June 2022.
Marais, W. (1981). Trochetiopsis (Sterculiaceae), a new genus from St Helena. Kew Bulletin 36: 645-646. [Abstract]
Oldfield, Sara, Lusty, Charlotte and MacKinven, Amy (compilers). (1998). The World List of Threatened Trees. Cambridge, U.K.: World Conservation Press. 650 pp.
POWO. (2024). Plants of the World Online (online resource). Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, United Kingdom. Available at: https://powo.science.kew.org/ [Accessed 21 June 2024]
Rowe, R. (1995). The population biology of Trochetiopsis: a genus endemic to St Helena. DPhil Thesis, University of Oxford.
Royal Botanic Gardens Kew and International Institute for Environment and Development. (1993). Report on sustainable environmental development strategy and action plan for St Helena. Vol. 3. Status of the endemic flora and preliminary recovery programmes.
Vojtek, Ján. (2020). Refining extinction estimations for plants of the UK Overseas Territories (UKOTs). MSc dissertation, Queen Mary, University of London. https://doi.org/10.34885/185
Walter, Kerry S. and Gillett, Harriet J. (eds.). (1998). 1997 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants. Compiled by the World Conservation Monitoring Centre. Gland, Switzerland & Cambridge, UK: IUCN – The World Conservation Union. lxiv + 862 pp.
WCSP. (2003). World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet; http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/