Nothofagus

Shoots, leaves, and cupules of N. obliqua

N. alpina, rauli beech

Nothofagus, also known as the southern beeches, is a genus of about 35 species of trees and shrubs native to the temperate oceanic to tropical Southern Hemisphere in southern South America (Chile, Argentina) and Australasia (east & southeast Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, New Guinea and New Caledonia). Fossils have recently been found in Antarctica^[1].

In the past they were included in the family Fagaceae, but genetic tests by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group revealed them to be genetically distinct, and they are now included in a family their own, the Nothofagaceae.

The leaves are toothed or entire, evergreen or deciduous. The fruit is a small, flattened or triangular nut, borne in cupules containing 2-7 nuts.

Nothofagus species are used as food plants by the larva of hepialid moths of the genus Aenetus including A. eximia and A. virescens.

Many individuals are extremely old, and at one time it was believed that some populations could not reproduce in present-day conditions at the location where they were growing, except by suckering (clonal reproduction), being remnant forest from a cooler time. It has since been shown that sexual reproduction may occur [1], but distribution in cool, isolated high-altitude environments at temperate and tropical latitudes is consistent with the theory that the species was more prolific in a cooler age.^[2]

Taxonomy

The genus is classified in the following sections:^[3]

Sect. Brassospora (type Nothofagus brassi)

• Nothofagus aequilateralis (New Caledonia)
• Nothofagus balansae (New Caledonia)
• Nothofagus baumanniae (New Caledonia)
• Nothofagus brassii (New Guinea)
• Nothofagus carrii (New Guinea)
• Nothofagus codonandra (New Caledonia)
• Nothofagus crenata (New Guinea)
• Nothofagus discoidea (New Caledonia)
• Nothofagus flaviramea (New Guinea)
• Nothofagus grandis (New Guinea)
• Nothofagus nuda (New Guinea)
• Nothofagus perryi (New Guinea)
• Nothofagus pseudoresinosa (New Guinea)
• Nothofagus pullei (New Guinea)
• Nothofagus resinosa (New Guinea)
• Nothofagus rubra (New Guinea)
• Nothofagus starkenborghii (New Guinea)
• Nothofagus stylosa (New Guinea)
• Nothofagus womersleyi (New Guinea)

Sect. Fuscospora (type Nothofagus fusca)

• Nothofagus alessandri (Central Chile)
• Nothofagus fusca (New Zealand)
• Nothofagus gunnii (Australia: Tasmania)
• Nothofagus solandri (New Zealand)
• Nothofagus truncata (New Zealand)

Sect. Lophozonia (type Nothofagus menziesii)

• Nothofagus alpina (=N. procera) (Central Chile/Argentina)
• Nothofagus cunninghamii (Australia: Victoria, Tasmania)
• Nothofagus glauca (Central Chile)
• Nothofagus macrocarpa (Central Chile)
• Nothofagus menziesii (New Zealand)
• Nothofagus moorei (Australia: New South Wales, Queensland)
• Nothofagus obliqua (Chile/Argentina)

Sect. Nothofagus (type Nothofagus antarctica)

• Nothofagus antarctica (Southern Argentina and Chile)
• Nothofagus betuloides (Southern Argentina and Chile)
• Nothofagus dombeyi (Central Chile and Andean Patagonia-Argentina)
• Nothofagus nitida (Southern Chile an probably Argentina)
• Nothofagus pumilio (Argentina/Chile)

Distribution

The pattern of distribution around the southern Pacific rim suggests that the dissemination of the genus dates to the time when Antarctica, Australia and South America were connected, a common land-mass referred to as Gondwanaland. ^[4]

In South America the northern genus limit can be construed as La Campana National Park and the Vizcachas Mountains in the central part of Chile.^[5]

References

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