Polygala paniculata

Polygala paniculata

(Orosne)

Gambar 1. Perbungaan Polygala paniculata
Klasifikasi Ilmiah
Kingdom	Plantae
Division	Magnoliophyta
Class	Magnoliopsida
Order	Polygalales
Family	Polygalaceae
Genus	Polygala
Spesies	Polygala paniculata

DESCRIPTION

A small, erect, glandular, annual herb up to60 cm tall; leaves linear, 1-1.8 cm long, less than 3 mm wide; flowers in terminal racemes up to 8 cm long, small, white, crowded; flower nearly 3 mm long; fruit about 3 mm long; seeds very small (less than 3 mm long), black but with tiny white hairs." (Stone, 1970)"Annual herbs; stems erect to ascending, 1-5 dm long, usually many-branched, puberulent, roots with bubblegum-like odor. Leaves numerous, lower ones often whorled, oblong-lanceolate to linear, 1-2.5 cm long, 0.1-0.4 cm wide, 1-nerved, glabrous, apex acute, tapering to base. Flowers ca. 2 mm long, in axillary or pseudoterminal, slender racemes 3-12 cm long; outer sepals green, elliptic, half as long as inner ones, inner sepals (wings) petaloid, elliptic, ca. 2 mm long, 3-nerved; lateral petals narrowly ovate, the keel appendaged. Fruit oblong, nearly wingless, as long as or longer than inner sepals, glabrous. Seeds black, ellipsoid, pubescent with short white hairs, aril small, with 2 membranous appendages

Gambar 2. Morfologi Polygala paniculata

Gambar 3. Herbarium Polygala paniculata

Distribution and Ecology
Naturalized species that occurs in NEQ, centred around Cairns and Brisbane. Altitudinal range from near sea level to 1100 m. Grows along roads and tracks and disturbed areas in rainforest, Eucalypt forest, Melaleuca forest, vine forest and Eucalypt woodland. Widespread as a weed in other countries.

Habitat/ecology: In Hawai‘i, "naturalized in mesic to wet, disturbed areas, 40-1,100 m" (Wagner et al., 1999; p. 1058). In Fiji, "abundantly naturalized from near sea level to 1,127 m as a weed in gardens, canefields, and waste places, along roadsides, on dry hillsides, in thickets, and on the edges of forest" (Smith, 1985; p. 723). In New Guinea, "a plant of grasslands, roadsides and headlands, appearing as a weed of plantations (particularly at higher altitudes) when larger weeds have been suppressed. From near sea level to 2000 m" (Henty & Pritchard, 1975; p. 136). In New Caledonia, "espèce d'introduction récente, vite devenue très répandue et localement abondante, parfois en forêt peu dégradée sur substrat ultrabasique" (MacKee, 1994; p. 116). "Occasional in disturbed places and roadsides" (Whistler, 1988; p. 33).

FUNCTION