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Persea indica is a large, evergreen tree in the laurel family (Lauraceae), native to humid uplands on Madeira and the Canary Islands in the North Atlantic.[1] It belongs to the genus Persea, a group of evergreen trees including the avocado. It is threatened by habitat loss.

Persea indica
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Magnoliids
Order:	Laurales
Family:	Lauraceae
Genus:	Persea
Species:	P. indica
Binomial name
Persea indica (L.) Spreng.

It has been introduced to a number of islands in the nearby Azores.[1]

Overview

This article needs additional citations for verification. (August 2015)

The family Lauraceae was part of Gondwanaland flora. There they spread over most of the continent. The genus Persea died out in increasingly xerophytic Africa, starting with the freezing of Antarctica about 20 million years ago and the formation of the Benguela current. The genus is extinct in Africa, save for P. indica, which survives in the fog shrouded mountains of the Canary Islands, which with Madagascar, constitute Africa's Laurel forest plant refugia.

Fossil evidence indicates that the genus originated in West Africa during the Paleocene, and spread to Asia, to South America, and to Europe and thence to North America. It is thought that the gradual drying of Africa, west Asia, and the Mediterranean from the Oligocene to the Pleistocene, and the glaciation of Europe during the Pleistocene, caused the extinction of the genus across these regions, resulting in the present distribution.

Persea indica is a species exclusive to Laurisilva, since this habitat is constantly threatened by encroaching agriculture, the laurel forest animal or vegetal species had already become rare in many of its former habitats and are threatened by habitat loss.

Fossil record

Fossils of Persea indica have been described from the fossil flora of Kızılcahamam district in Turkey, which is of early Pliocene age.[2]

See also

• List of animal and plant symbols of the Canary Islands

References

На других языках

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- [en] Persea indica

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[ru] Персея индийская

Персея индийская (лат. Persea indica) — вид вечнозелёных деревьев из рода Персея семейства Лавровые (Lauraceae).

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