Acronychia chooreechillum (F.M.Bailey) C.T.White

Rutaceae

White, C.T. (1933) Contributions from the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University 4: 49.

Mountain Aspen

Blaze odour resembling that of mango bark (Mangifera indica) or citrus (Citrus spp.).

Leaflet blades about 2.5-7 x 1-3.2 cm, usually emarginate at the apex. Oil dots numerous and closely spaced. Lateral veins forming loops inside the blade margin. Leaflet stalks and compound leaf petiole shallowly channelled on the upper surface.

Inflorescence about 2.5-6 cm long. Flowers about 6.5-8.5 mm long. Stamens eight, dimorphic, four long and four short in one whorl, long and short stamens alternating. Disk orange. Ovary green.

Fruits +/- ovoid, about 20 x 15 mm, prominently 4-angled, with four fissures extending from the pointed apex for about half the length of the fruit. Seed about 4 mm long, testa tuberculate.

Cotyledons about 7-9 mm long, margin finely crenate. At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blade elliptic, apex acute, base cuneate, glabrous on the upper surface; oil dots numerous, visible with a lens; petiole glabrous, narrowly winged. Seed germination time 67 to 136 days.

Endemic to NEQ, restricted to the higher mountains between Mt Finnigan and Mt Bartle Frere. Altitudinal range from 1000-1550 m. Grows in mountain rain forest, often found in low, windswept forest on exposed ridges.