Cecarria

Cecarria is a monotypic genus in the family Loranthaceae. The sole species is Cecarria obtusifolia, a hemiparasitic aerial shrub.^[1]

Cecarria
Close-up of foliage
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Order:	Santalales
Family:	Loranthaceae
Genus:	Cecarria Barlow
Species:	C. obtusifolia
Binomial name
Cecarria obtusifolia (Merr.) Barlow[1][2]
Occurrence data from GBIF
Synonyms[1]
Phrygilanthus obtusifolius Merr. (nom. illeg.) Muellerina obtusifolia (Merr.) Barlow

Description

Cecarria obtusifolia is an aerial, stem-parasitic shrub, and like species in the genus Muellerina, it has epicortical runners.^[3] It is glabrous throughout.^[4] The obovate or broadly obovate^[3] leaves are opposite, curvinerved, and rounded at the apex.^[3] The leaf blades are 30–55 mm long and 20–45 mm wide, and attenuate into an obscure petiole 2–6 mm long.^[5] The inflorescence is axillary, with and a two-flowered umbel or a four-flowered raceme or spike; there are nearly orbicular bracts^[5] beneath each flower.^[3] The flower has six free petals. The stamens are nearly equal, and the anthers are dorsifixed and versatile,^[3] having a short sterile tip with the free part of the filament about 2 mm long.^[5]

The peduncle is 6–9 mm long and up to 20 mm when the inflorescence is a raceme. The flowers are sessile or on pedicels up to 3 mm long. The calyx is entire and 0.5–1 mm long. The ivory-white corolla in mature bud is 10–14 mm long and slightly club-shaped. The fruit is almost spherical and about 8 mm long.^[5]

Distribution and habitat

Cecarria obtusifolia occurs in the Philippines, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and in Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, Australia,^[3] and also in the Lesser Sunda Islands and Bougainville (New Guinea).^[6] The genus is thought to be a relictual Gondwanan entity.^[3]

In Australia it occurs in the McIlwraith Range area in Queensland, growing in rainforest. Recorded hosts include plants in the genera: Calophyllum, Casuarina,^[7] and Syzygium, and Xanthostemon.^[5][7]

Taxonomy

The species was first described by Elmer Drew Merrill as Phrygilanthus obtusifolius in 1906.^[5][4] In 1973, Bryan Barlow redescribed it, assigning it to the new genus, Cecarria, and the name thus became C. obtusifolia.^[1][2] The current accepted description is that of Barlow in 1984.^[1][8]

The genus Cecarria is named for Cedric Errol Carr (1892–1936).^[3] The leaves, which are blunt and rounded at the apex (tip), gave rise to the latin-derived name, obtusifolia, meaning "obtuse-leaved".^[9]

Conservation

It is considered to be "Not Threatened" (NT) in Queensland under the Nature Conservation Act 1992 of Queensland.^[10]