Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants - Online edition

Cleistanthus apodus Benth.


Shrub (woody or herbaceous, 1-6 m tall)
Tree
Click/tap on images to enlarge
Flowers [not vouchered]. CC-BY J.L. Dowe
Leaves and fruits. © CSIRO
Scale bar 10mm. © CSIRO
1st leaf stage, durian germination. © CSIRO
10th leaf stage. © CSIRO
Cotyledon stage, durian germination. © CSIRO
Family

Bentham, G. (1873) Flora Australiensis 6: 122. Type: Queensland. Cape York, MGillivray, Daemel; Rockhampton Bay, Dallachy.

Common name

Weeping Cleistanthus

Stem

A small tree generally less than 20 cm dbh. Blaze layering fairly fine.

Leaves

Leafy twigs rather slender, about 1 mm diam. Petiole finely wrinkled transversely. Leaf blades about 5-10 x 2-5 cm, paler green on the underside. Young shoots almost glabrous. Lateral veins generally forming loops well inside the blade margin.

Flowers

Flowers about 2 mm diam. Calyx glabrous throughout. Ovary densely clothed in pale coloured hairs.

Fruit

Fruit disintegrating when ripe leaving the stalk and central axis attached to the tree. Capsule (without stalk) about 7 mm long.

Seedlings

Cotyledons remain in the seed coat and the first pair of leaves is produced before the seed coat is shed. At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blade ovate, apex acuminate, base rounded; stipules very short, triangular, glabrous. Seed germination time 7 to 41 days.

Distribution and Ecology

Occurs in CYP and NEQ, widespread. Altitudinal range from near sea level to 400 m. Grows in well developed rain forest, particularly gallery forest along creeks and rivers. Also occurs in New Guinea.

Synonyms
Kaluhaburunghos apodus (Benth.) Kuntze, Revisio Generum Plantarum 2: 607(1891).
RFK Code
741
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