Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants - Online edition

Citronella moorei (F.Muell. ex Benth.) R.A.Howard


Tree
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Scale bar 10mm. © CSIRO
Cotyledon stage, epigeal germination. © CSIRO
10th leaf stage. © CSIRO
Family

Howard, R.A. (1940) Journal of the Arnold Arboretum 21: 472.

Common name

Soapybox; Beech, Silky; Churnwood; Corduroy; Silky Beech; Soapbox

Stem

Oak grain in the wood. Orange brown layers in the blaze. Living bark layer rather thin. Stem of the larger trees fluted.

Leaves

Oak grain in the twigs. Twigs rather pithy. Leaf blades about 7-13 x 3.5-6.5 cm. Domatia are foveoles.

Flowers

Inflorescence usually a raceme of heads. Petals about 4.5-5 mm long. Ovary hairy. Style one, vestigial styles nil. Stigma terminal, +/- 2-lobed, more than half the diameter of the ovary.

Fruit

Fruits 18-24 mm long. Seeds with a longitudinal groove formed by the intrusion of the endocarp.

Seedlings

Cotyledon petiole glabrous. At the tenth leaf stage: a few scattered hairs remain on the upper surface of the leaf along the midrib. Seed germination time 207 days.

Distribution and Ecology

Endemic to Australia, occurs in NEQ, CEQ and southwards to south-eastern New South Wales. Altitudinal range in NEQ from 150-1000 m. Grows in well developed rain forest on a variety of sites.

Synonyms
Chariessa moorei (Benth.) Engl., Die Naturlichen Pflanzenfamilien 3(5) : 245(1893). Villaresia moorei Benth., Flora Australiensis 1: 396(1863), Type: N.S. Wales. Clarence River, Moore.
RFK Code
439
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