Медуза ағашы: Сешель аралдарының сирек түрі

Genus of trees

Medusagyne oppositifolia, the jellyfish tree, is a species of tree endemic to the island of Mahé, of the Seychelles. It is the only member of the genus Medusagyne of the tropical tree and shrub family Ochnaceae. The plant, thought to be extinct until a few individuals were found in the 1970s, gets its common name from the distinctive jellyfish like shape of its dehisced fruit. The bark is dark and has many distinctive, deep fissures. the vernacular name, jellyfish tree, was applied later possibly based on the appearance of the dehisced fruit and the coincidence that the word medusa is also used to describe the free floating umbrella shaped form of jellyfish. This plant exhibits many adaptations to dry climate, strange on a moist archipelago. It can withstand drought, and its seeds disperse by the wind. This suggests it has Gondwanan origins. The fruits are green and rounded; the outer coat becomes reddish brown with maturity and then dries, exposing the seeds within, which are then distributed by the wind.

The pollen ontogeny of the Medusagyne oppositifolia has some unique features that are shown. These features include a large onci that is composed of fibrilla spacer during the early stage of development to represent the atria section of it.

The tree inhabits exposed granite slopes, at present all locations are within of the sea. Successful cultivation in botanic gardens has occurred in very humid conditions, but high humidity is unlikely in the exposed habitat where these trees are found in the wild. It has been suggested that jellyfish trees have been lost from the more appropriate habitat of moist forests through competition with other species and climate change.

Three of the existing populations of jellyfish tree on the island on Mahé (Bernica, Copolia and Mt. Jasmin) are protected within the Morne Seychellois National Park. Although seedlings have been grown in a number of botanic gardens, many problems remain and a conservation priority must be further researched into the reproductive biology of this intriguing species before any effective Action Plan for its future can be devised.