Cupaniopsis is a genus of about 67 species of trees and shrubs of the soapberry family, Sapindaceae. They grow naturally in New Guinea, New Caledonia, Australia, Torres Strait Islands, Fiji, Samoa, Sulawesi, Micronesia. Many species have been threatened with extinction globally or nationally, with official recognition by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and several national and state governments.
Tuckeroo is a common name suffix for some species in Australia.
C. anacardioides has been introduced into the United States, where in some parts they are invasive plants, primarily in Florida and Hawaii, where the common name Carrotwood applies.
Conservation
At global, national and government regional scales, many Cupaniopsis species have been threatened with extinction, as officially recognised by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), governments of Australia, New Caledonia and so on.
Globally, the New Caledonian endemic species C. crassivalvis has become extinct according to the IUCN's 1998 assessment. Seven species endemic to New Caledonia have become endangered with global extinction according to the IUCN's 1998 assessments. Five species endemic to New Guinea, one endemic to New Caledonia and one endemic to Sulawesi have become vulnerable to global extinction according to the IUCN's 1998 and 2010 assessments.
In Australia, C. shirleyana and C. tomentella, small trees endemic to small areas of southeastern Queensland (Qld), have obtained the "vulnerable" species Australian government's national conservation status and together also with C. cooperorum, the Qld government's "vulnerable" species state conservation status. C. newmannii small trees in eastern Qld have obtained the Qld government's "near threatened" species state conservation status. C. serrata small trees in northeastern New South Wales (NSW) have obtained the NSW government's "endangered" species state conservation status.
Naming and classification
European science formally named and described this genus in 1879 using C. anacardioides for the type species, authored by Bavarian botanist Ludwig A. T. Radlkofer.
In 1991 a 190-page monograph of the whole genus was published by Dutch botanist Frits Adema.
Australian botanist Sally T. Reynolds, from 1984 to 1991 published new formal scientific names, descriptions, updates and species clarifications, in her scientific journal articles and the Flora of Australia treatment.
Species
This listing was sourced from the Australian Plant Name Index and Australian Plant Census, the Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants information system, the Census of Vascular Plants of Papua New Guinea, the Checklist of the vascular indigenous Flora of New Caledonia, Flora Malesiana, Fruits of the Australian Tropical Rainforest, "The Endemic Plants of Micronesia", Plants in Samoan Culture, Flora Vitiensis (Fiji), the 2013 Census of the Queensland Flora, the Flora of New South Wales, and the Flora of Australia. Cupaniopsis acuticarpa – New Guinea – Vulnerable Cupaniopsis amoena – Fiji endemic Cupaniopsis anacardioides , Tuckeroo – NSW, Qld, NT, WA, Australia, New Guinea
Cupaniopsis apiocarpa – New Caledonia endemic
Cupaniopsis azantha – New Caledonia endemic
Cupaniopsis baileyana – NE. NSW, to SE. Qld endemic, Australia
Cupaniopsis bilocularis – New Guinea
Cupaniopsis bullata – New Guinea – Vulnerable
Cupaniopsis celebica – Sulawesi
Cupaniopsis chytradenia – New Caledonia endemic
Cupaniopsis concolor – Fiji endemic
Cupaniopsis cooperorum – NE. Qld endemic, Australia
Cupaniopsis crassivalvis – New Caledonia endemic – Extinct
Cupaniopsis curvidens – New Guinea
Cupaniopsis dallachyi – NE. Qld endemic, Australia
Cupaniopsis diploglottoides – NE. Qld endemic, Australia
Cupaniopsis euneura – New Guinea – Vulnerable
Cupaniopsis flagelliformis – NSW, Qld, Australia
var. australis – NE. NSW, to SE. Qld endemic, Australia
var. flagelliformis – Cape York to NE. Qld endemic, Australia
Cupaniopsis fleckeri – Torres Strait Is., Cape York Peninsula, Qld endemic, Australia Cupaniopsis foveolata – Cape York Peninsula, NE to central E. Qld, endemic, Australia Cupaniopsis fruticosa – New Caledonia endemic
Cupaniopsis glabra – New Caledonia endemic – Endangered
Cupaniopsis globosa – New Caledonia endemic – Vulnerable
Cupaniopsis glomeriflora – New Caledonia endemic
Cupaniopsis grandiflora – New Caledonia endemic
Cupaniopsis grisea – New Caledonia endemic
Cupaniopsis guillauminii – Chuuk Islands endemic (Micronesia)