# Aleurites > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Aleurites > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Aleurites.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleurites > Source revision: 1322141041 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Genus of flowering plants}} {{Automatic taxobox |image = Starr 070215-4556 Aleurites moluccana.jpg |image_caption = Candlenut (''[A. moluccanus](/source/Aleurites_moluccanus)'') |display_parents = 3 |taxon = Aleurites |authority = [J.R.Forst.](/source/Johann_Reinhold_Forster) & [G.Forst.](/source/Georg_Forster) |synonyms_ref = {{cite web|url=http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/genus.pl?376 |title=Genus: ''Aleurites'' J. R. Forst. & G. Forst. |work=Germplasm Resources Information Network |publisher=United States Department of Agriculture |date=2007-10-05 |access-date=2010-10-09 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100528143732/http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/genus.pl?376 |archive-date=2010-05-28 }} |synonyms = *''Camirium'' [Gaertn.](/source/Joseph_Gaertner) *''Ambinax'' Comm. ex A.Juss. *''Telopea'' Sol. ex Baill. }} '''''Aleurites''''' is a small genus of arborescent [flowering plant](/source/flowering_plant)s in the [Euphorbiaceae](/source/Euphorbiaceae), first described as a genus in 1776.Forster, Johann Reinhold & Forster, Johann Georg Adam. 1775. [Characteres Generum Plantarum](/source/Characteres_Generum_Plantarum) 111, pl. 56[http://www.tropicos.org/Name/40009609 Tropicos, ''Aleurites'' J.R. Forst. & G. Forst.] It is native to China, the [Indian subcontinent](/source/Indian_subcontinent), [Southeast Asia](/source/Southeast_Asia), [Papuasia](/source/Papuasia), and [Queensland](/source/Queensland). It is also reportedly naturalized on various islands (Pacific and Indian Oceans, plus the Caribbean) as well as scattered locations in [Africa](/source/Africa), [South America](/source/South_America), and [Florida](/source/Florida).[http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/namedetail.do?name_id=5917 Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families]Govaerts, R., Frodin, D.G. & Radcliffe-Smith, A. (2000). World Checklist and Bibliography of Euphorbiaceae (and Pandaceae) 1-4: 1–1622. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.[http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=101000 Flora of China Page 265 石栗属 shi li shu ''Aleurites'' J. R. Forster & G. Forster, Char. Gen. Pl. 111. 1776. ] These [monoecious](/source/Plant_sexuality), evergreen [tree](/source/tree)s are [perennials](/source/Perennial_plant) or semiperennials. These are large trees, {{convert|15|-|40|m|ft|abbr=on}} tall, with spreading, drooping, and rising branches. The [leaves](/source/Leaf) are alternate, lobate, ovate to ovate-lanceolate with minute stipules. They are pubescent on both sides when young, but in a later stage they become glabrous. The [inflorescence](/source/inflorescence) consists of terminal plumes of small, creamy white, bell-shaped, fragrant [flower](/source/flower)s, branching from the base. The flowers are usually [bisexual](/source/Plant_sexuality), with a solitary pistillate flower at the end of each major axis. The lateral cymes are staminate. There are five or six imbricate petals. The staminate flowers are mostly longer and thinner than the pistillate flowers, with 17–32 glabrous [stamen](/source/stamen)s in four whorls. The pistillate flowers have a superior [ovary](/source/ovary_(plants)). The [fruit](/source/fruit)s are rather large [drupe](/source/drupe)s with a fleshy [exocarp](/source/Fruit_anatomy) and a thin, woody [endocarp](/source/Fruit_anatomy). They vary in shape, according to the numbers of developed [locule](/source/locule)s. They contain oleiferous, [poison](/source/poison)ous [seed](/source/seed)s. The oil has been used as a [paraffin](/source/Kerosene) and [lubricant](/source/lubricant), and as a constituent of [varnish](/source/varnish), [paint](/source/paint), and [soap](/source/soap). Once poisonous substances are removed, it can be used as a [cooking oil](/source/cooking_oil). Some deciduous [Chinese](/source/China) species are now classified under a separate genus ''[Vernicia](/source/Vernicia)''. The name ''Aleurites'' is derived from the {{langx|grc|ἄλευρον}} meaning "wheaten flour" or "ground meal",{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Aleurites|volume=1|page=543}} because of the appearance of the lower surface of the leaf. ==Taxonomy and nomenclature== [Linnaeus](/source/Carl_Linnaeus) assigned the Latin feminine [grammatical gender](/source/grammatical_gender) to the genus name ''Aleurites'', as for example in the species name ''Aleurites moluccana''. The current [International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants](/source/International_Code_of_Nomenclature_for_algae%2C_fungi%2C_and_plants) has standardized all genus names ending in ''-ites'' to use the masculine gender, so the correct name of the species ''Aleurites moluccanus''.{{GRIN | ''Aleurites moluccanus'' | 2191 | accessdate = 2018-01-10}}{{cite book |author1=McNeill, J. |author2=Barrie, F.R. |author3=Buck, W.R. |author4=Demoulin, V. |author5=Greuter, W. |author6=Hawksworth, D.L. |author7=Herendeen, P.S. |author8=Knapp, S. |author9=Marhold, K. |author10=Prado, J. |author11=Prud'homme Van Reine, W.F. |author12=Smith, G.F. |author13=Wiersema, J.H. |author14=Turland, N.J. |year=2012 |volume=Regnum Vegetabile 154 |title=International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (Melbourne Code) adopted by the Eighteenth International Botanical Congress Melbourne, Australia, July 2011 |publisher=A.R.G. Gantner Verlag KG |isbn=978-3-87429-425-6 |url=http://www.iapt-taxon.org/nomen/main.php?page=title }} Article 62.4 == Species == thumb|right|Candlenut (''Aleurites moluccanus'') thumb|right|Candlenut seedling Accepted species{{cite web |url=https://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/splist.pl?376 |title=GRIN Species Records of ''Aleurites'' |work=Germplasm Resources Information Network |publisher=United States Department of Agriculture |access-date=2010-10-09}} The most widespread species is the candlenut (''[Aleurites moluccanus](/source/Aleurites_moluccanus)''), occurring from tropical Asia and the Pacific, from [India](/source/India) to [China](/source/China) and [Polynesia](/source/Polynesia), [Australia](/source/Australia) and [New Zealand](/source/New_Zealand). Some botanists only recognize two species, ''A. moluccanus'' and ''A. rockinghamensis''. # ''[Aleurites moluccanus](/source/Aleurites_moluccanus)'' (L.) Willd. – Indian walnut, candlenut tree, country walnut, ''aburagiri, ama'' - most of genus range # ''[Aleurites rockinghamensis](/source/Aleurites_rockinghamensis)'' (Baill.) P.I.Forst. - Papua New Guinea, Queensland ;formerly included moved to other genera: ''[Croton](/source/Croton_(plant)), [Mallotus](/source/Mallotus_(plant)), [Omphalea](/source/Omphalea), [Reutealis](/source/Reutealis), [Vernicia](/source/Vernicia)'' {{Columns-list|colwidth=30em| *''A. cordatus'' - ''[Vernicia cordata](/source/Vernicia_cordata)'' *''A. erraticus'' - ''[Omphalea papuana](/source/Omphalea_papuana)'' *''A. fordii'' - ''[Vernicia fordii](/source/Vernicia_fordii)'' *''A. japonicus'' - ''[Vernicia cordata](/source/Vernicia_cordata)'' *''A. laccifer'' - ''[Croton laccifer](/source/Croton_laccifer)'' *''A. montanus'' - ''[Vernicia montana](/source/Vernicia_montana)'' *''A. peltatus'' - ''[Mallotus peltatus](/source/Mallotus_peltatus)'' *''A. saponarius'' - ''[Reutealis trisperma](/source/Reutealis_trisperma)'' *''A. trispermus'' - ''[Reutealis trisperma](/source/Reutealis_trisperma)'' *''A. vernicifluus'' - ''[Vernicia cordata](/source/Vernicia_cordata)'' *''A. vernicius'' - ''[Vernicia montana](/source/Vernicia_montana)'' }} ==References== {{Reflist}} ==Further reading== * {{cite journal |first=W. |last=Stuppy |author2=P.C. van Welzen|author3=P. Klinratana |author4=M.C.T. Posa |year=1999 |title=Revision of the genera Aleurites, Reutealis and Vernicia (Euphorbiaceae) |journal=Blumea |volume=44 |pages=73–98}} ==External links== *{{Commons category-inline|italic=1}} *{{Wikispecies-inline|Aleurites|''Aleurites''}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q141267}} {{Authority control}} Category:Aleuritideae Category:Euphorbiaceae genera --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Aleurites](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleurites) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleurites?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.