יומן של Exocarpos bidwillii knowledge repository

Taxonomic naming convention requires an acknowledgement of the first person to name, in this case, the genus Exocarpos - first described by Jacques Labillardière when in Australia in 1791-94. Again convention dictates that the taxon is often expressed as Exocarpos Labill. 1798.

Deep diving into the journals of Labillardière reveals that on 7th of May 1792 he described the fruit and seed arrangement (with the seed outside the fruit) thus providing the name exo+carpos = Excocarpos. Here is what he actually said: “I discovered an evergreen tree, which has its nut situated, like that of acajou, upon a fleshy receptacle much larger than itself. I therefore named the new genus exocarpos.”

Note that Labillardière chose exocarpos, not pus.

The relevant journals, translated into English in 1800, can be found here in the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL): Relation du Voyage à la Recherche de la Pérouse 1: 155. 1800. (Voy. Rech. Pérouse), P. 198. 07 May 1792.

https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/79817#page/214/mode/1up

Pacific, Oceania, and south Indochina islands and Hawaii, not Madagascar as cited in many authoritative sources including H.H. Allen's "Flora of New Zealand, Vol 1" including its online version "Flora of New Zealand: Taxa", 2004. https://floraseries.landcareresearch.co.nz/pages/Taxon.aspx?id=_464a114f-0337-436c-8e48-d958908cecfe&fileName=Flora%201.xml.

The apparent source of the inclusion of Madagascar can be found in The Journal of the Linnean Society, Botany 20: 249–250. 1883. (J. Linn. Soc., Bot.). The article is "On the flora of Madagascar" by John G. Baker.

The relevant subject is: Exocarpus xyllophylloides whose description begins "There can be little doubt, although none of the specimens show either flower or fruit, that a plant of which we have now four sheets at Kew, is a phyllocladioid Exocarpus closely allied to the well-known Æ. phyllanthoides, Endl., of Norfolk Island...".

This seems to indicate that, in the absence of flowers or fruit, the similar appearance to the samples of leafy Exocarpos species led Baker, and other early botanists, to conclude that this species is of the same genus: Exocarpos.

Current binomial:
Phylloxylon xylophylloides(Baker) is a species of legume in the family Fabaceae. It is found only in Madagascar.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phylloxylon_xylophylloides