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Ascarina is an ancient, woody, angiosperm genus. It is a distinct genus of the family Chloranthaceae, consisting of less than twenty species, found in the Australian region, the Pacific Islands and Madagascar. They can grow up to six metres tall and have a spread of approximately three metres. Ascarina are usually tropical cloud forest species which need high humidity to thrive, and are vulnerable to both frost and drought. There has been discussion and research on whether or not this genus and its family are primitive, or have become reduced over time. Another controversial topic for the genus is its relation to the Clavatipollenites, a fossilized pollen.
Most Ascarina are endemic to high humidity montane forests (1000–3300 m elevation), with an exception of A. lucida (0–1500 m elevation). The plants grow best in sunny disturbed regions, a trait shared with its sister genus Hedyosmum, but not with the other two genera of Chloranthaceae. The sole exception to this amongst the genus is A. swamyana, which grows best in shady regions. Ascarina and Hedyosmum were among the first angiosperms to recruit seedlings in brighter areas, and this ability to grow in open areas has been proposed as the explanation for Ascarina being anemophilous.
Ascarina coursii · Ascarina diffusa · Hutu · Ascarina philippinensis
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Ascarina by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
