Hesperelaea A. Gray

Type species: Hesperelaea palmeri A. Gray

Synonyms: none

Distribution: Mexico (endemic to Guadalupe Island, off Baja California, now presumed to be extinct)

Number of species: 1

Description (from Standley 1924): Small glabrous tree, leaves mostly opposite, oblong 5 cm long or more, entire, coriaceous; flowers perfect, yellow, in terminal panicle, the pedicels short, articualte; sepals 4, deciduous; petals 4, spatulate, about 12 mm long, clawed; stamens 4; fruit drupaceous.
(From Watson's (1875) list of plants collected on Guadalupe Island by Edward Palmer: A rather compact tree, 20-25 ft high; flowers lemon-color. Only three live trees were found, in a cañon on the east side; no young trees seen, but many dead ones.)

References

• Eastwood, A. 1929. Studies in the flora of lower California and adjacent islands. Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., 4th ser. 18(14): 393-484, pl. 33, 34.
• Moran, R. 1996. The Flora of the Guadalupe Island. Memoirs of the California Academy of Sciences 19: 28, 40, 42-43, 128-129 (pages about Hesperelaea)
• Watson, S. 1876. Botanical contributions. I. On the flora of Guadalupe Island, Lower California. Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts & Sci. XI: 105-112.
• Zedane, L. & Hong-Wa, C. & Murienne, J. & Jeziorski, C. & Baldwin, B. G. & Besnard, G. 2016. Museomics illuminate the history of an extinct, paleoendemic plant lineage (Hesperelaea, Oleaceae) known from an 1875 collection from Guadalupe Island, Mexico. Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 117: 44-57.

Maintained by Eva Wallander | Last updated: 2019-05-11