Astiria Notes

Asteria rosea Lindley

Malvaceae Info (Home)

Astiria is a monotypic genus endemic to Mauritius. The single species, Astiria rosea Lindley, is endangered or extinct.

Astiria is also a genus of ichneumonid wasps.

Astiria was classified in the Sterculiaceae, and is now placed in subfamily Dombeyoideae of Malvaceae sensu APG.1. Two other genera of Dombeyoideae, Ruizia and Trochetia, are also endemic to the Mascarene islands.

Astiria rosea is a shrub, with a similar habit to Dombeya, reaching 4 to 5m in height. It has stout quadrangular branches.

The leaves are large and rounded being 6-9 inch long and broad, deeply cordate at the base, subentire, obscurely 3-lobed, with a deltoid tip, and pubescent below. They are borne on a 3 to 5 inch long petiole. This petiole, like the peduncles, pedicels and sepals, has a covering of short, bristly, ferruginous hairs.

The inflorescence is a cyme. The petals about ½ inch long, obovate, clawed and contorted. The sepals are lanceolate, and divided almost to the base. There is an epicalyx of 3 reflexed bracteoles.

Synonyms: Dombeya astrapæoides Bojer is a synonym of Astiria rosea.

References

  1. Dennis Marinus Hansen, personal communication (2002).
  2. John Gilbert Baker, Flora of Mauritius and the Seychelles (1877).