Trewia
Encyclopedia
Trewia is a plant
genus
of the spurge family (Euphorbiaceae
), comprising 2 species. It is found from the Himalaya to Hainan Island
. These species have hard large fruits.
Trewia species are used as food plants by the larva
e of some Lepidoptera
species including the leaf-miner Bucculatrix verax
, which feeds exclusively on Trewia nudiflora.
The hard green fruit of Trewia nudiflora, which fall to the ground in large numbers during the monsoon season, are a preferred food of the Indian rhinoceros
. The passage of its seeds through the rhino gut enhances its germination rate.
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...
genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
of the spurge family (Euphorbiaceae
Euphorbiaceae
Euphorbiaceae, the Spurge family are a large family of flowering plants with 300 genera and around 7,500 species. Most are herbs, but some, especially in the tropics, are also shrubs or trees. Some are succulent and resemble cacti....
), comprising 2 species. It is found from the Himalaya to Hainan Island
Hainan
Hainan is the smallest province of the People's Republic of China . Although the province comprises some two hundred islands scattered among three archipelagos off the southern coast, of its land mass is Hainan Island , from which the province takes its name...
. These species have hard large fruits.
Trewia species are used as food plants by the larva
Larva
A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...
e of some Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera is a large order of insects that includes moths and butterflies . It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies, skipper butterflies, and moth-butterflies...
species including the leaf-miner Bucculatrix verax
Bucculatricidae
Bucculatricidae or is a family of moths. This small family has representatives in all parts of the world. Some authors place the group as a subfamily of the family Lyonetiidae....
, which feeds exclusively on Trewia nudiflora.
The hard green fruit of Trewia nudiflora, which fall to the ground in large numbers during the monsoon season, are a preferred food of the Indian rhinoceros
Indian Rhinoceros
The Indian Rhinoceros is also called Greater One-horned Rhinoceros and Asian One-horned Rhinoceros and belongs to the Rhinocerotidae family...
. The passage of its seeds through the rhino gut enhances its germination rate.
Name
The genus is named after Christoph Jacob Trew (German wiki), a German physician and botanist.Synonyms
- Canschi Adans.Michel AdansonMichel Adanson was a French naturalist of Scottish descent.Adanson was born at Aix-en-Provence. His family moved to Paris on 1730. After leaving the College Sainte Barbe he was employed in the cabinets of R. A. F. Reaumur and Bernard de Jussieu, as well as in the Jardin des Plantes. At the end of...
- Trevia L.Carolus LinnaeusCarl Linnaeus , also known after his ennoblement as , was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature. He is known as the father of modern taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology...