1364

                   Amborella trichopoda Baill.

Family	:	Amborellaceae
Local name	:	English- Amborella
Distribution	:	South Pacific island of New Caledonia
Habitat	:	Moist, shaded understory of montane forests.
Uses		Amborella is of great interest to plant systematists because molecular phylogenetic analyses consistently place it at or near the base of the flowering plant lineage.
Key botanical characters: It is an evergreen shrub whose wood is considered to be of a primitive type because of its lack of vessels (a type of cell for water conduction). Male (pollen-producing) and female (ovule-producing) flowers occur on separate plants. The flowers are small, 5 mm (0.2 inch) or less in diameter, and occur in small clusters in the axils of the leaves. They have 5–8 tepals (sepals and petals are not differentiated) enclosing 10–25 stamens or 5–6 carpels. The structure of both the stamens and carpels is also considered to be relatively primitive. The stamens are flattened and leaflike. The carpels are not completely sealed, and the stigma is attached directly to the top of the ovary (there is no intermediate elongated style). The single-seeded fruits that develop from each carpel are red at maturity and only 1 cm (0.4 inch) long and 3 mm (0.1 inch) wide.