The genus Bowenia includes two living and two fossil species of cycads in the family Stangeriaceae, sometimes placed in their own family Boweniaceae.[2] They are entirely restricted to Australia.
| Bowenia | |
|---|---|
| |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Gymnospermae |
| Division: | Cycadophyta |
| Class: | Cycadopsida |
| Order: | Cycadales |
| Family: | Stangeriaceae |
| Subfamily: | Bowenioideae Pilger |
| Genus: | Bowenia Hook. ex Hook.f. |
| Type species | |
| Bowenia spectabilis[1] | |
| Species | |
| |
Description
editThe chromosome count is 2n = 18.[3]
Species
edit| Image | Scientific name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|
 |
Bowenia serrulata Chamb. | Queensland |
 |
Bowenia spectabilis Hook | Queensland |
Distribution
editThe two living species occur in Queensland. B. spectabilis grows in warm, wet, tropical rainforests, on protected slopes and near streams, primarily in the lowlands of the Wet Tropics Bioregion. However, it has a local form with serrate pinna margins that grows in rainforest, Acacia-dominated transition forest, and also Casuarina-dominated sclerophyll forest on the Atherton Tableland, where it is subject to periodic bushfire. B. serrulata grows in sclerophyll forest and transition forest close to the Tropic of Capricorn.[4][5][6]
Fossils
editThe fossil species Bowenia eocenica is known from deposits in a coal mine in Victoria, Australia, and B. papillosa is known from deposits in New South Wales. Both fossils are of Eocene age, and consist of leaflet fragments.[7]
References
edit- ^ a b Hill, Ken; Leonie Stanberg; Dennis Stevenson. "The Cycad Pages". Genus Bowenia. Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. Archived from the original on 2020-10-24. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
- ^ Stevenson, D.W. (1981). "Observations on ptyxis, phenology, and trichomes in the Cycadales and their systematic implications". American Journal of Botany. 68 (8): 1104–14. doi:10.1002/j.1537-2197.1981.tb06394.x.
- ^ "Bowenia Hook. ex Hook. f." Tropicos. 2024-01-03. Retrieved 2024-01-04.
- ^ Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
- ^ Hill, K.D.; Stevenson, D.W. (1999). "A world list of Cycads". Excelsa (Journal of the Aloe, Cactus and Succulent Society of Zimbabwe). 19: 67–72. ISSN 0301-441X. OCLC 612375682.
- ^ Christenhusz, M.J.M.; Reveal, J.L.; Farjon, A.K.; Gardner, M.F.; Mill, R.R.; Chase, M.W. (2011). "A new classification and linear sequence of extant gymnosperms". Phytotaxa. 19: 55–70. doi:10.11646/phytotaxa.19.1.3.
- ^ Hill, R.S. (1978). "Two new species of Bowenia Hook, ex Hook, f. from the Eocene of eastern Australia". Australian Journal of Botany. 26 (6): 837–846. doi:10.1071/BT9780837.
External links
edit
Media related to Bowenia at Wikimedia Commons- Hill, Ken. "Bowenia". The Cycad Pages. Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. Archived from the original on 2021-03-01.
- "Bowenia". Cycad Jungle. Archived from the original on 2014-07-14.
- Gymnosperm Database, Bowenia
- "Cycad, Zamia Fern Bowenia spectabilis". PlantFiles. Dave's Garden.
- "Bowenia serrulata". CITES Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna.
- "Bowenia Hook.f". Atlas of Living Australia.
