Lindera

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the moth genus which shares this name, see Lindera tessellatella.
"Spice bush" redirects here. The term may also refer to Triunia.

Lindera
Lindera melissifolia
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Magnoliids
Order: Laurales
Family: Lauraceae
Genus: Lindera
Thunb.
Species

See text

Synonyms
  • Benzoin
    Schaeff.
  • Daphnidium
    Nees
  • Iteadaphne Blume
  • Parabenzoin Nakai
  • Sinosassafras H.W.Li
MHNT
)

Lindera is a genus of about 80–100[1] species of flowering plants in the family Lauraceae, mostly native to eastern Asia but with three species in eastern North America.[1][2] The species are shrubs and small trees;[2] common names include spicewood, spicebush, and Benjamin bush.

Name

The Latin name Lindera commemorates the Swedish doctor Johan Linder (1676-1724).[3]

Description

Lindera umbellata

Lindera are

hypocarpium at the base of the fruit, which in some cases forms a cup that encloses the bottom part of the fruit.[2] The fruit is a small red, purple or black drupe containing a single seed, dispersed mostly by birds. Many species reproduce vegetatively by stolons
.

Ecology

The genus appears to be able to occupy widely different habitats as long as its requirements for water are met.[citation needed] Habitat fragmentation severely affects dioecious[citation needed] species like Lindera melissifolia (pondberry), because populations with plants of a single sex can only vegetatively reproduce. With significant habitat loss, plants become ever more isolated, lessening the likelihood that pollinators will travel from male to female plants.

Most are found on the bottoms and edges of shallow seasonal ponds in old dune fields, but in drier areas they occur in low riverine habitat.[citation needed] Most Lindera colonies occur in light shade beneath a forest canopy, but a few grow in almost full sunlight.[citation needed] In warmer areas they occur in bottomland hardwood forests.[citation needed]

The North American species of Lindera are relicts that originally were more common when the climate of North America was more humid, and they are not so widespread geographically as in the past.

The hermit thrush has been identified as a dispersal agent of seeds of L. melissifolia.[4]

Lindera species are used as food plants by the

the engrailed and the spicebush swallowtail
.

Selected species

Uses

The bark, twigs, and leaves of some species can be used to make tea. The berries have also sometimes been used. The young bark can be chewed to parch thirst.[5]

Lindera umbellata contains linderatin, methyllinderatin and linderachalcone which are structurally related to cannabidiol.[6][verification needed]

References

  1. ^ a b 1. Lindera Thunberg, Flora of North America
  2. ^ a b c d e 5. Lindera Thunberg, Flora of China
  3. ISBN 978-1-60469-196-2
    .
  4. S2CID 3694410
    .
  5. OCLC 799792
    .
  6. S2CID 84302225
    .
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