- For the Roman name, see Mucius Scaevola. For the fossil gastropod genus, see Scaevola (mollusc). For the 1958 US nuclear test, see Operation Hardtack.
| Scaevola | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Scaevola chamissoniana | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Asterids |
| Order: | Asterales |
| Family: | Goodeniaceae |
| Genus: | Scaevola L. |
| Species | |
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About 130, see List of Scaevola species |
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Part of the family Goodeniaceae, the Scaevola plant genus consists of more than 130 tropical species, mostly centered in Australia and Polynesia, including Hawaii, but with one widespread, pantropical, coastal species beach naupaka S. sericea [1] [2]. Mountain naupaka or naupaka kuahiwi (Scaevola spp.) is also indigenous to Hawaii [3]. Nine out of ten Scaevola species occurring in Hawaii are endemic to the Hawaiian Islands [4].
Common names for Scaevola flowers are scaevolas, fan-flowers, half-flowers, or naupaka, the plant's Hawaiian name. It's scientific name is Latin for "left-handed" which probably refers to the unique flower shape which looks as if it has been cut horizontally in half. Many legends have been told to explain the formation of the naupaka's unique half flowers. In one version a woman tears the flower in half after a quarrel with her lover. The Gods, angered, turn all naupaka flowers into half flowers and the two lovers remained separated while the man is destined to search in vain for another whole flower [5].
Scaevola is the only Goodeniaceae genus that is widespread outside of Australia. In at least six separate dispersals, about 40 species have spread throughout the Pacific Basin, with a few reaching the tropical coasts of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Beach Naupaka (Scaevola taccada synonym S. sericea) occurs throughout the Pacific and Indian Oceans and is an invasive species in Florida, USA, and in some islands of the Caribbean including the Cayman islands and the Bahamas. Beachberry or inkberry Scaevola plumieri is widespread in the tropical Americas and Africa, however, it is becoming rarer in areas where S. taccada is displacing native coastal plants.
Most Australian Scaevola have dry fruits and sprawling, herbaceous to shrubby habits. By contrast, nearly all species outside Australia have shrub habits with fleshy fruit making dispersal by frugivores easy.
The plant pathogenic sac fungus Mycosphaerella scaevolae was discovered on a Scaevola fan-flower.
Selected species
- Scaevola aemula R.Br. – Fairy Fan-flower or Common Fan-flower (Southern Australia)
- Scaevola amblyanthera F.Muell.
- Scaevola brookeana F.Muell.
- Scaevola chamissoniana Gaudich. Naupaka kuahiwi (Hawaiʻi)
- Scaevola chanii K.M.Wong (Malaysia)
- Scaevola collaris F.Muell.
- Scaevola coriacea Nutt. – Dwarf Naupaka (Hawaiʻi)
- Scaevola crassifolia Labill. – Thick-leaved Fan-flower (Australia)
- Scaevola enantophylla F.Muell.
- Scaevola floribunda A.Gray (Fiji)
- Scaevola gaudichaudiana Cham. – Mountain Naupaka, Naupaka kuahiwi (Oʻahu and Kauaʻi in Hawaiʻi)[6]
- Scaevola gaudichaudii Hook. & Arn. – Ridgetop Naupaka (Hawaiʻi)
- Scaevola kilaueae O.Deg. – Huahekili uka (island of Hawaiʻi)
- Scaevola muluensis K.M.Wong (Malaysia)
- Scaevola macrophylla
- Scaevola oldfieldii F.Muell.
- Scaevola oxyclona F.Muell.
- Scaevola parvifolia F.Muell. ex Benth.
- Scaevola phlebopetala F.Muell.
- Scaevola plumieri (L.) Vahl – Beachberry, Waxy Bush, "inkberry" (Pantropical)
- Scaevola porocarya F.Muell.
- Scaevola procera Hillebr. Forest Naupaka, Naupaka kuahiwi (Molokaʻi and Kauaʻi in Hawaiʻi)
- Scaevola ramosissima
- Scaevola socotraensis H.St.John (Yemen)
- Scaevola taccada (Gaertn.) Roxb. – Beach Naupaka, Naupaka kahakai (Hawaiian); ngahu (Tongan) (Pantropical)
- Scaevola verticillata Leenh. (Malaysia)
References
- ^ DaCosta-Cottam, M., Olynik, J., Blumenthal, J., Godbeer, K.D., Gibb, J., Bothwell, J., Burton, F.J., Bradley, P.E., Band, A., Austin, T., Bush, P., Johnson, B.J., Hurlston, L., Bishop, L., McCoy, C., Parsons, G., Kirkconnell, J., Halford, S. and Ebanks-Petrie, G. 2009. Cayman Islands National Biodiversity Action Plan 2009. Cayman Islands Government. Department of Environment.[1]
- ^ Hammer, Roger. 1998. Postcards from Paradise: Separated Lovers and the Beach Naupaka. >PDF
- ^ Scott, Susan. 1991. Plants and Animals of Hawaii. Bess Press.
- ^ Offshore Islet Restoration Committee. Undated. Species - Plants > Selected Plants Found on Hawaii's Offshore Islets. [2]
- ^ Hammer, Roger. 1998. Postcards from Paradise: Separated Lovers and the Beach Naupaka. >PDF
- ^ Little Jr., Elbert L.; Roger G. Skolmen (1989) (PDF). Naupaka kuahiwi, mountain naupaka. United States Forest Service. http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/forestry/data/CommonTreesHI/CFT_Scaevola_gaudichaudiana.pdf.
- Howarth, Dianella G.; Gustafsson, Mats H.G.; Baum, David A. & Motley, Timothy J. (2003): Phylogenetics of the genus Scaevola (Goodeniaceae): implication for dispersal patterns across the Pacific Basin and colonization of the Hawaiian Islands. Am. J. Bot. 90(6): 915-213. PDF fulltext Supplemental data
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