Melicope

Melicope
File:Starr 020925-0080 Melicope clusiifolia.jpg
Melicope clusiifolia
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Rosids
Order:	Sapindales
Family:	Rutaceae
Subfamily:	Toddalioideae
Genus:	Melicope J.R.Forst. & G.Forst
Species
About 150, see text
Synonyms
Pelea A.Gray

Melicope is a genus of about 230 species of shrubs and trees in the family Rutaceae, occurring from the Hawaiian Islands across the Pacific to tropical Asia, Australia and New Zealand. The temperate Asian genus Tetradium (which sometimes include the tropical Euodia) is closely related to Melicope and is sometimes merged into it.

In Australia they are known as doughwoods, or more ambiguously as "corkwoods" or "euodias", and in Hawaii they are collectively called alani; the Māori term wharangi for Melicope ternata is a cognate of that. Generally, these plants are simply called melicopes or (after a formerly independent genus now included in Melicope) peleas.

Several of the Hawaiian species are listed as federally endangered due to habitat loss and competition from invasive non-native plants. A few species are completely extinct already.

They are foodplants for various animals, mainly invertebrates. Caterpillars of the Ulysses Butterfly (Papilio ulysses) are fond of M. elleryana; on M. clusiifolia caterpillars of Thyrocopa moths have been found. The larvae of some belid weevils from the genus Proterhinus also feed on Melicope; they prefer unhealthy, dying or dead specimens. But the plants may not be safe for humans – the nectar at least of Wharangi is known to yield toxic honey that may kill whoever eats it.

Taxonomy

The generic name is derived from Greek words μελι (meli), meaning "honey," and κοπη (kope), meaning "a division," referring to the glands at the base of the ovary. The Takhtajan system places the genus in the subfamily Rutoideae, tribe Zanthoxyleae, while Germplasm Resources Information Network places it in the subfamily Toddalioideae and does not assign it to a tribe. Evidence from 2009 indicates that the related genus Platydesma of four species is nested within the genus Melicope and is sister to all Hawaiian Melicope species. And while Melicope species are dioecious (individual plants only bear either male or female flowers), the flowers of Platydesma are hermaphroditic, suggesting a rare evolutionary reversion away from dioecy in Platydesma.

Selected species

File:Starr 040131-0036 Melicope adscendens.jpg

Melicope adscendens

• Melicope accedens (Blume) T.G.Hartley
• Melicope adscendens (H.St.John & Hume) T.G.Hartley & B.C.Stone
• Melicope anisata (H.Mann) T.G.Hartley & B.C.Stone – Mokihana (Kauaʻi)
• Melicope balloui (Rock) T.G.Hartley & B.C.Stone – Rock Pelea
• Melicope bonwickii (F.Muell.) T.G.Hartley
• Melicope borbonica (Bory) T.G.Hartley – Bois de catafaille blanc
• Melicope christophersenii (H.St.John) T.G.Hartley & B.C.Stone
• Melicope cinerea A.Gray
• Melicope clusiifolia (A.Gray) T.G.Hartley & B.C.Stone – ʻAlani
• Melicope confusa (Merr.) P.S.Liu
• Melicope contermina C.Moore & F.Muell.
• Melicope coodeana T.G.Hartley
• Melicope cruciata (Heller) T.G.Hartley & B.C.Stone – Cross-bearing Pelea (extinct)
• Melicope cucullata (Gillespie) A.C.Sm.
• Melicope degeneri
• Melicope denhamii (Seem.) T.G.Hartley
• Melicope elleryana (F.Muell.) T.G.Hartley
• Melicope fatuhivensis (F.Brown) T.G.Hartley & B.C.Stone
• Melicope glabra (Blume) T.G.Hartley
• Melicope haleakalae (B.C.Stone) T.G.Hartley & B.C.Stone – Maui Ruta Tree (extinct: c.1920)
• Melicope haupuensis (H.St.John) T.G.Hartley & B.C.Stone
• Melicope hawaiensis (Wawra) T.G.Hartley & B.C.Stone
• Melicope hayesii
• Melicope indica Wight
• Melicope irifica (Coode) T.G.Hartley
• Melicope jugosa T.G.Hartley
• Melicope kaalaensis (H.St.John) T.G.Hartley & B.C.Stone
• Melicope knudsenii (Hillebr.) T.G.Hartley & B.C.Stone – Knudsen's Melicope
• Melicope latifolia (DC.) T.G.Hartley
• Melicope littoralis
• Melicope lydgatei
• Melicope madagascariensis (Baker) T.G.Hartley

• Melicope macropus (Hillebr.) T.G.Hartley & B.C.Stone
• Melicope makahae (B.C.Stone) T.G.Hartley & B.C.Stone
• Melicope micrococca (F.Muell.) T.G.Hartley – White Euodia
• Melicope mucronulata (H.St.John) T.G.Hartley & B.C.Stone
• Melicope munroi (H.St.John) T.G.Hartley & B.C.Stone
• Melicope nukuhivensis (F.Brown) T.G.Hartley & B.C.Stone
• Melicope obovata (H.St.John) T.G.Hartley & B.C.Stone – Obovate Melicope (extinct)
• Melicope obtusifolia DC. – Gros catafaille
• Melicope orbicularis (Hillebr.) T.G.Hartley & B.C.Stone – Orbicular Pelea
• Melicope obtusifolia (DC.) T.G.Hartley
• Melicope ovalis (H.St.John) T.G.Hartley & B.C.Stone – Wild Pelea
• Melicope pallida (Hillebr.) T.G.Hartley & B.C.Stone
• Melicope paniculata (H.St.John) T.G.Hartley & B.C.Stone – Lihue Ruta Tree
• Melicope polybotrya (C.Moore & F.Muell.) T.G.Hartley
• Melicope puberula (H.St.John) T.G.Hartley & B.C.Stone
• Melicope quadrangularis (H.St.John & Hume) T.G.Hartley & B.C.Stone – Four-angled Pelea
• Melicope reflexa (H.St.John) T.G.Hartley & B.C.Stone
• Melicope revoluta Florence
• Melicope saint-johnii (Hume) T.G.Hartley & B.C.Stone – St John's Pelea
• Melicope sandwicensis (Hook. & Arn.) T.G.Hartley & B.C.Stone
• Melicope simplex A. Cunn. – Poataniwha
• Melicope segregis (Cordem.) T.G.Hartley
• Melicope sororia T.G.Hartley
• Melicope subunifoliolata (Stapf) T.G.Hartley
• Melicope tahitensis Nadeaud
• Melicope ternata J.R.Forst. & G.Forst. – Wharangi
• Melicope triphylla (Lam.) Merr.
• Melicope vitiflora (F.Muell.) T.G.Hartley
• Melicope waialealae (Wawra) T.G.Hartley & B.C.Stone
• Melicope wawraeana (Rock) T.G.Hartley & B.C.Stone
• Melicope xanthoxyloides (F.Muell.) T.G.Hartley
• Melicope zahlbruckneri (Rock) T.G.Hartley & B.C.Stone – Zahlbruckner's Melicope

References

• Espina-Prez, D. & Ordetx-Ros, G.S. (1983): Flora Apcola Tropical [in Spanish]. Editorial Tecnolgico de Costa Rica, Cartago, Costa Rica.
• Hartley, Thomas Gordon (2001): On the taxonomy and biogeography of Euodia and Melicope (Rutaceae). Allertonia 8(1): 1-328.
• Hartley, Thomas Gordon & Stone, Benjamin Clemens (1989): Reduction of Pelea with new combinations in Melicope (Rutaceae). Taxon 38(1): 119–123. First page image