Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants - Online edition

Cordyline murchisoniae F.Muell.

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Flowers. © B. Gray

Flowers. © Australian Plant Image Index (APII). Photographer: M. Fagg.

Leaves and inflorescence. © B. Gray

Habit, leaves and fruit. © Australian Plant Image Index (APII). Photographer: M. Fagg.

Scale bar 10mm. © CSIRO

Family

Asparagaceae

Mueller, F.J.H. von (1865) Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae 5: 195. Type: Queensland, Mitchell Creek, Herbert River, Oct. 1864, J. Dallachy; holo: MEL. Fide Pedley (1986).

Common name

Murchison's Palm-lily

Stem

Usually flowers and fruits as a shrub but also flowers when smaller.

Leaves

Leaf blades about 10-18 x 3-5 cm, green on the underside. Midrib often difficult to distinguish on the upper surface of the leaf blade. Petiole about 4-6 cm long, grooved on the upper surface.

Flowers

Panicles up to 16 cm long, pedicels about 3-5 mm long. Tepals glabrous, about 7-9 mm long.

Fruit

Fruit about 1 cm diam. Embryo small, narrowly cylindrical and slightly curved.

Seedlings

Features not available.

Distribution and Ecology

Endemic to Queensland, occurs in NEQ, CEQ and southwards to south-eastern Queensland. Altitudinal range from 250-1000 m. Grows as an understory shrub in rain forest and in the adjacent eucalypt forest.

Synonyms

Cordyline haageana K.Koch, Wochenschrift des Vereines zur Beforderung des Gartenbaues in den Koniglich Preussischen Staaten f~yr G~urtnerei und Pflanzenkunde 10 : 195(1867), Type: scheint nach dem unsevem botanischen Garten in Berlin mitgeth

RFK Code

3010

Web edition hosted at https://apps.lucidcentral.org/rainforest