Alstonia constricta F.Muell.

Apocynaceae

Mueller, F.J.H. von (1858) Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae 1(3): 57. Type: T.L.Mitchell 261, Queensland, Mt. Pluto.

Bitter Bark

Shrub or small tree to 18m; bark grey to yellow-brown, fissured and firmly scaly to corky; latex milky in cut young stems and petioles; buds enclosed in clear gum or resin, sometimes densely hairy with white hair; stems hairless; stipules several in leaf axils.

Simple, opposite and decussate or rarely in whorls of 4; lamina oblong-elliptic to oblong-lanceolate; apex tapered to a fine or blunt point; base cuneate, sometimes oblique; hairless to densely hairy; upper surface dark green, glossy or dull; lower surface paler and sometimes yellowish; pinnately veined with 16-25 pairs of main laterals distinct on both surfaces; petiole slender, 1-3cm; margin entire.

Inflorescence a terminal corymbose cyme to 12cm long; flowers bisexual, actinomorphic, white or yellowish, scented; sepals 5, 1-2mm; petals 5, fused basally into a tube2.5-4mm long; corolla lobes4-8mm, curved, spreading, densely hairy towards throat; anthers 5, free from style-head; gynoecium of 2 free carpels; ovaries superior; style-head cylindrical.

Dry pendant, cylindrical follicle to 20cm long, pod-like, splitting to release many seeds.

Not available.

Occurs in CEQ, and extending southwards into inland New South Wales. Altitudinal range from near sea level to about 660 m. Grows in vine forests and in open forests and woodlands.

Alstonia mollis Benth., Flora Australiensis 4: 315 (1868), Type: Queensland. Barcoo River, near Mount Northampton, Mitchell.  Alstonia constricta var. montmariensis F.M.Bailey, Queensland Agricultural Journal 26: 198, t. 19, fig. 3 (1911), Type: Mount Maria, Warrego, F.M.B., 1876; Eidsvold, T.L. Bancroft 1911.

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