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Gymnostoma
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<p><i>Gymnostoma</i> is a <a href="/facts/Genus/m8EFjSms">genus</a> of about eighteen species of trees and shrubs, constituting one of the four <a href="/facts/Genus/m8EFjSms">genera</a> of the plant family <a href="/facts/Casuarinaceae/2GLxSV9l">Casuarinaceae</a>. The species grow naturally in the tropics, including at high elevations having <a href="/facts/Temperate_climates/6WPypCzC">temperate climates</a>, in forests in the region of the western <a href="/facts/Pacific_Ocean/bdxgXRVM">Pacific Ocean</a> and <a href="/facts/Malesia/tSlpq94f">Malesia</a>. In <a href="/facts/New_Caledonia/VI15kA61">New Caledonia</a>, published botanical science describes eight species found growing naturally, which botanists have <a href="/facts/Endemism/xt4IpIsl">not found anywhere else (endemics)</a>. Other species are native to <a href="/facts/Borneo/1aIGfyvV">Borneo</a>, <a href="/facts/Sumatra/Fo192kJb">Sumatra</a>, <a href="/facts/Maluku_Province/4mNnfnmX">Maluku</a>, and <a href="/facts/New_Guinea/qB0bzfSH">New Guinea</a>, and one endemic species each in <a href="/facts/Fiji/JU8Hs8WH">Fiji</a> and the <a href="/facts/Wet_Tropics_of_Queensland/60wtGtaq">Wet Tropics of Queensland</a>, Australia. </p><p>The genus was first scientifically described by <a href="/facts/Lawrence_Alexander_Sidney_Johnson/mvs6DH2a">Lawrie A. S. Johnson</a> in 1980. Many of the <i>Gymnostoma</i> species combinations of names (<a href="/facts/Binomial_nomenclature/jgBqAhPv">binomials</a>) were described by him in 1982. As of 2013<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gymnostoma&action=edit">[update]</a>, a global total of eighteen species have been found and described. </p><p>The majority of the species grow in rainforests, in the habitats of open, sunny, long-term gaps, from <a href="/facts/Riparian_zone/3NQHWM78">river bank (riparian) situations</a> through to mountain top situations. In New Caledonia two endemic species <i>G. chamaecyparis</i> and <i>G. deplancheanum</i> have specialised adaptations, growing in wet "shrub <a href="/facts/Maquis_shrubland/QbKDRnA3">maquis</a> and paraforest maquis formations. <i>G. chamaecyparis</i> is associated with <a href="/facts/Serpentine_soil/1uIPh32w">hypermagnesian soils</a> (hypermagnesian <a href="/facts/Inceptisol/Tt89IvaM">inceptisol</a>) below 600 m altitude at the base of <a href="/facts/Ultramafic/7qAapP1d">ultramafic</a> <a href="/facts/Massif/0tR9poFq">massifs</a>. <i>G. deplancheanum</i> occurs on <a href="/facts/Laterite/3FYFwspo">ferralitic</a> <a href="/facts/Allotropes_of_iron/deRQ3dBM">ferritic</a> <a href="/facts/Base_saturation/4DoXx9Jk">desaturated</a> <a href="/facts/Hardpan/71jrBUk0">hardpan</a> or gravelly soils (<a href="/facts/Oxisol/yyCvo0z0">oxisol</a>) on the southern massif at altitudes between 200 and 1,000 m". </p>