Hernandia nymphaeifolia is a species of plant

Plant

Plants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Precise definitions of the kingdom vary, but as the term is used here, plants include familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The group is also called green plants or...

 in the Hernandiaceae

Hernandiaceae

Hernandiaceae is the botanical name for a family of flowering plants. Such a family has been recognised by most taxonomists.The APG II system, of 2003 , also recognizes this family, and assigns it to the order Laurales in the clade magnoliids...

 family. Its common name is Lantern Tree.

Description

Hernandia nymphaeifolia is a tree

Tree

A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...

 with 5-22 m high. The leaves

Leaves

-History:Vocalist Arnar Gudjonsson was formerly the guitarist with Mower, and he was joined by Hallur Hallsson , Arnar Ólafsson , Bjarni Grímsson , and Andri Ásgrímsson . Late in 2001 they played with Emiliana Torrini and drew early praise from the New York Times...

 are narrowly or broadly ovate or subcircular. The 5-9 veins are palmate. The flowers are white or greenish , hermaphrodite

Hermaphrodite

In biology, a hermaphrodite is an organism that has reproductive organs normally associated with both male and female sexes.Many taxonomic groups of animals do not have separate sexes. In these groups, hermaphroditism is a normal condition, enabling a form of sexual reproduction in which both...

, with fragant odour; male and female are separated. The fruit

Fruit

In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...

is fleshy, waxy red o white.

Distribution and Ecology

This species occurs throughout the tropics (Duyfjes 1996) exclusively in coastal areas: along the sea-shore in littoral forest and in coastal swamps. Fujita (1991) lists H.nymphaeifolia as being seed dispersed by the Marianas flying fox in the Mariana Islands.

Uses

H. nymphaeifolia has a light, perishable wood. It has been used in South Pacific islands for fishing rods, fish net floats, wooden sandals, fan handles, drawing boards, canoe accessories, furniture and firewood, etc. A woody layer surrounds the seed of the lantern tree fruit. The Tahaitians polish the round brown seeds to a high gloss and fashion them into necklaces. The Marshallese bathe children in a healing bath made from H. nymphaeifolia leaves and relieve headaches with a preparation from other tree parts. The effect of lignanes from this species on Ca²⁺ signaling in human neutrophils has been studied.

External links

• Bhavatu Sabba Mangalam http://akiytraveltheworld.blog.co.uk/2010/05/22/hernandia-nymphaeifolia-8646584/