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Uncinia

{{Short description|Genus of grass-like plants}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| image = Uncinia.jpg

| image_caption =

| taxon = Uncinia

| authority = Pers.

| type_species = Uncinia australis

| type_species_authority = Pers.{{cite web |url=http://www.anbg.gov.au/abrs/online-resources/flora/stddisplay.xsql?pnid=6099 |title=Uncinia |work=Flora of Australia Online |publisher=Australian National Botanic Gardens |access-date=2009-11-19}}

| synonyms =

  • Agistron Raf.

| synonyms_ref =  [http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/synonomy.do?name_id=271105 Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families]

}}

Uncinia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cyperaceae, known as hook-sedges in Australia{{cite web |url=http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=gn&name=Uncinia |title = Genus Uncinia |work = New South Wales Flora Online |author = National Herbarium of New South Wales |access-date = 2009-11-17|author-link = National Herbarium of New South Wales }} and as hook grasses or bastard grasses in New Zealand.{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/wetlands/4 |author=Peter Johnson |title=Wetlands — Reeds, rushes, sedges and low growers' |encyclopedia=Te Ara — the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |year=2009}} The genus is characterised by the presence of a long hook formed by an extension of the rachilla, which is used to attach the fruit to passing animals (epizoochory), especially birds,{{cite book |chapter-url=https://ars.usda.gov/SP2UserFiles/Place/64022000/Publications/Bryson/Brysonetal08Chpt2.pdf |chapter=The Significance of Cyperaceae as Weeds |author=Charles T. Bryson and Richard Carter |title=Sedges: Uses, Diversity, and Systematics of the Cyperaceae |pages=15–101 |year=2008 |publisher=Missouri Botanical Garden Press |isbn=978-1-930723-72-6 |editor=Robert A. Naczi & Bruce A. Ford}} and it is this feature which gives the genus its name, from the Latin uncinus, meaning a hook or barb.{{cite web |url=http://www.anbg.gov.au/abrs/online-resources/flora/stddisplay.xsql?pnid=7334 |title=Uncinia |work=Flora of Australia Online |publisher=Australian National Botanic Gardens |access-date=2009-11-19}}

Systematics

Uncinia is a "satellite genus" of the very large genus Carex, alongside other satellites such as Cymophyllus, Kobresia, Schoenoxiphium, Vesicarex.{{cite journal |url=http://herbaria.plants.ox.ac.uk/OPS_issues/OPS9.pdf |journal=Oxford Plant Systematics |author=Julian Richard Starr |title=Systematics of Uncinia Pers. (Cyperaceae) |pages=4–5 |volume=9 |year=2002}} Uncinia seems to form a monophyletic group, with the most distinct species being U. kingii, a species which has sometimes been placed in the genus Carex. Similarly, Carex microglochin has sometimes been included in Uncinia, as U. microglochin.{{cite journal |journal=Systematic Botany |volume=29 |issue=3 |pages=528–544 |year=2004 |title=Phylogeny of the unispicate taxa in Cyperaceae Tribe Cariceae I: generic relationships and evolutionary scenarios |author=Julian R. Starr, Stephen A. Harris and David A. Simpson |doi=10.1600/0363644041744455|s2cid=86230977 }}

Distribution

Uncinia has a Gondwanan distribution,{{cite journal |title=Phylogeny and evolution in Cariceae (Cyperaceae): current knowledge and future directions |journal=The Botanical Review |year=2009 |author=Julian R. Starr & Bruce A. Ford |doi=10.1007/s12229-008-9020-x |volume=75 |issue=1 |pages=110–137|s2cid=38500919 }} with most species found Australia, New Zealand and South America, as far north as Mexico and Jamaica.{{cite journal |title=Notes on Cyperaceae: XX. The genus Uncinia in Malaysia |author=E. Nelmes |journal=Kew Bulletin |volume=4 |issue=2 |year=1949 |pages=140–145 |doi=10.2307/4113666 |jstor=4113666}} Of the 50–60 species, 30 are endemic to New Zealand,{{cite book |chapter-url=http://floraseries.landcareresearch.co.nz/pages/Taxon.aspx?id=_16bb6a28-3e60-4989-915d-299cb5c2ff29&fileName=Flora%202.xml#_16bb6a28-3e60-4989-915d-299cb5c2ff29 |chapter = Uncinia Pers., 1807 |title = Flora of New Zealand. Volume II: Indigenous Tracheophyta — Monocotyledons except Graminae |author = L. B. Moore & E. Edgar |year = 1970 |isbn = 0-477-01889-0}} 6 are endemic to the east coast of Australia, and 4 are endemic to the Juan Fernández Islands.{{cite journal |journal=Darwiniana |volume=45 |issue=1 |year=2007 | title = Carex and Uncinia (Cyperaceae, Cariceae) from the Juan Fernández archipelago, Chile |author = Gerald A. Wheeler |url=http://www.scielo.org.ar/scielo.php?pid=S0011-67932007000100011&script=sci_arttext}} Smaller numbers of species are also found in New Guinea, Borneo, the Philippines, Hawaii, Tristan da Cunha, Kerguelen, Île Amsterdam, Île Saint-Paul, and the Prince Edward Islands, although none are known from the mainland of Africa. This distribution suggests that the genus had an origin in Antarctica.{{cite journal |title=Facts and speculations on phylogeny in the Tribe Cariceae of the Cyperaceae |author=E. Nelmes |journal=Kew Bulletin |volume=6 |issue=3 |year=1951 |pages=427–436 |doi=10.2307/4118022 |jstor=4118022}}

It contains the following species:

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References

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Category:Cyperaceae genera

Category:Taxonomy articles created by Polbot