3 Endangered plant species

Rafflesia

Rafflesia is a genus of parasitic flowering plants. It contains approximately 28 species (including

four incompletely characterized species as recognized by Willem Meijer in 1997), all found in
southeastern Asia, in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines.[1][not in citation given]

Rafflesia was found in the Indonesian rain forest by an Indonesian guide working for Dr. Joseph
Arnold in 1818, and named after Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, the leader of the expedition. It
was discovered even earlier by Louis Deschamps in Java between 1791 and 1794, but his notes
and illustrations, seized by the British in 1803, were not available to western science until 1861.
[citation needed]

The plant has no stems, leaves or true roots. It is a holoparasite of vines in the genus Tetrastigma
(Vitaceae), spreading its absorptive organ, the haustorium, inside the tissue of the vine. The only
part of the plant that can be seen outside the host vine is the five-petaled flower. In some species,
such as Rafflesia arnoldii, the flower may be over 100 centimetres (39 in) in diameter, and weigh
up to 10 kilograms (22 lb). Even the smallest species, R. baletei, has 12 cm diameter flowers.
The flowers look and smell like rotting flesh, hence its local names which translate to "corpse
flower" or "meat flower" (see below). The foul odor attracts insects such as flies, which transport
pollen from male to female flowers. Most species have separate male and female flowers, but a
few have hermaphroditic flowers. Little is known about seed dispersal. However, tree shrews and
other forest mammals eat the fruits and disperse the seeds. Rafflesia is the official state flower of
Indonesia, the Sabah state in Malaysia, and of the Surat Thani Province, Thailand.
The name "corpse flower" applied to Rafflesia can be confusing because this common name also
refers to the titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum) of the family Araceae. Moreover, because
Amorphophallus has the world's largest unbranched inflorescence, it is sometimes mistakenly
credited as having the world's largest flower. Both Rafflesia and Amorphophallus are flowering
plants, but they are only distantly related. Rafflesia arnoldii has the largest single flower of any
flowering plant, at least in terms of weight. A. titanum has the largest unbranched inflorescence,
while the talipot palm (Corypha umbraculifera) forms the largest branched inflorescence,
containing thousands of flowers; the talipot is monocarpic, meaning the individual plants die
after flowering.

GEORGIA ASTER
Symphyotrichum georgianum (formerly Aster georgianus) is a rare species of flowering plant in
the Asteraceae, the aster family. Its common name is Georgia aster. It is native to the

southeastern United States, where it is known from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina,
and South Carolina.[2] Today it may be extirpated from the state of Florida.[3]
The Georgia aster is a robust rhizomatous perennial herb producing colonies of woody stems up
to 100 centimetres (39 in) long. The thick, dark green leaves are up to 7 centimetres (3 in) long
by 2 centimetres (0.8 in) wide. They are oblong to lance-shaped with smooth or serrated margins.
The flower heads are borne on rough-haired, glandular peduncles. The bracts are linear to lanceshaped.[2] The flower heads are relatively large, up to 5 [3] to 6[1] centimeters across. Each ray floret
is up to 2 centimeters long.[3] The florets are purple and have been described as "dark purple" [3] to
"lavender violet to dark reddish purple".[2] The disc florets at the center are white and purplish.[2]
This plant blooms in October and November.[3]
The Georgia aster grows in oak-pine woodlands.[2][3] The local region was once covered in a post
oak-savanna, and this species was a member of this ecosystem. This type of plant community
depends on natural disturbance, such as wildfire. Today this type of plant community has been
largely destroyed or degraded by fire suppression and the removal of certain large grazing
mammals.[1][3] The Georgia aster is therefore a relict species of this historic ecosystem, and grows
in remaining woodlands.[3]
104 populations are estimated to remain.[3]
Threats to the survival of the species include elimination of habitat disturbance such as fire.
Other threats include road construction and herbicide application.

Acalypha

Acalypha capitata

Acalypha is a genus of flowering plants in the family Euphorbiaceae. It is the sole genus of the
subtribe Acalyphinae. It is one of the largest euphorb genera, with approximately 450 to 462
species.[1][2][3] The genus name Acalypha is from the Greek akalephes ("nettle"), and was inspired
by the nettle-like leaves.[4] General common names include copperleaf.[5]
The genus is distributed mainly in the tropics and subtropics, with about 60% of species native to
the Americas and about 30% in Africa.[6]

Description[edit]
The genus includes annuals or perennial herbs, shrubs, and small trees. Most are monoecious,
and some are dioecious. Indumentum of simple hairs or glands, rarely of stellate hairs. The
leaves are alternately arranged, undivided, generally petiolate, stipulate; stipels rarely present at
apex of petiole or leaf base, caduceus. The blades entire or more frequently dentate or crenate,
pinnately or palmately veined. There are several types of inflorescence,terminal or axillary,
frequently both, unisexual or androgynous. Male inflorescences spicate, densely flowered, with
several flowers at each node subtended by a minute bract. Female inflorescences generally
spicate, sometimes racemose or panicle-shaped, with 13(5) flowers at each node, usually
subtended by a large bract, increasing and foliaceous in the fruit, generally dentate or lobed;
sometimes subtended by a small bract, entire or lobed, non accrescent in the fruit. Androgynous
inflorescences usually with female flowers at proximal nodes and male flower at distal
nodes.Flowers unisexual, apetalous, disc absent. Male flowers very small, shortly pedicellate,
globose in bud; calyx parted into 4 small valvate sepals; stamens 48(16) on a slightly raised
receptacle, filaments free or basally connated; anthers with divaricate or pendulous thecae,
unilocular, more or less elongated and later becoming vermiform; pollen grains oblatespheroidal, with 35 pseudopores, tectate, psilate; pistillode absent. Female flowers generally
sessile or subsessile, pedicellate in a few species; calyx of 3 (45) small sepals imbricate,
connate at base; ovary of [12]3 carpels, surface often muricate, pubescent or papillose; ovules
solitary in each cell, anatropes; styles reddish, free or basally connate, several times divided into
filiform segment, rarely bifid or entire; staminodes absent.Fruits capsular, small, 3-lobed, soon
dehiscing septicidally into 3 bivalved cocci; generally surrounded by the accrescent female bract.
Seeds small, ovoid or ellipsoid, usually carunculate, smooth or foveolate; endosperm present,
whitish; the embryo straight; cotyledons broad and flat.Allomorphic female flowers present in
some species, generally terminal (sometimes median or basal) in the inflorescences; ebracteate,
long pedicellate or subsessile; calyx as in the normal female flowers; ovary and fruits 1-2 locular.
[7]

Uses[edit]
A. hispida, the chenille plant or red-hot cat's tail, is cultivated as a houseplant for its interesting
flowers. It earned the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit,[8] as has A.
hispaniolae, the Hispaniola cat's tail.[9] Others are grown for their foliage and a number of

cultivars have been developed, such as A. wilkesiana 'Obovata Cristata' and A. wilkesiana
'Hoffmannii'.[10]
A. bipartita is eaten as a vegetable in some parts of Africa, and it is used in basketry and as
animal fodder.[11]