Dodonaea platyptera F.Muell.

Sapindaceae

Mueller, F.J.H. von in Hooker, W.J. (1857) Hooker's Journal of Botany & Kew Garden Miscellany 9 : 197. Type: Northern Territory, Fitzmaurice River, Oct. 1855, F. Mueller s.n.; holo: MEL 84127; iso: K. Fide J. G. West, Brunonia 7: 95 (1984).

Broad-winged Hop Bush; Hopbush

Usually flowers and fruits as a shrub about 2-3 m tall.

Terminal buds and young leaves viscous or varnished. Petioles about 0.3-1 cm long, 3-angled in transverse section at least in the upper part. Leaf blades about 3.5-10 x 1-4.5 cm, flat glands usually visible with a lens on the underside of the leaf blade. Lateral veins forming loops inside the blade margin. Narrow ridges run down the twigs from the base of each petiole.

Male flowers: Flowers about 4-5 mm diam., tepals about 2.3-3 x 1.2-1.7 mm often with yellow glands on the outer surface. Stamens eight, longer than the tepals, filaments about 0.2-0.3 mm long, anthers about 2.3-2.8 x 1.3-1.5 mm. Female flowers: Pedicels about 8-10 mm long, tepals about 2.5-3 x 1 mm. Style about 13-14 mm long. Stigma 2-4-lobed.

Capsule three or 4-winged, capsule + wings about 9-13 x 20-30 mm, wings about 8-13 x 8-9 mm. Seeds globose, about 2.7-3.5 x 2-3 mm. Embryo coiled. Cotyledons about as long as but much wider than the radicle.

Cotyledons linear to oblong, about 17-28 x 2-5 mm, apex acute, glandular, base attenuate. First pair of leaves simple, alternate or opposite, obovate or spathulate, often lobed. At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blade narrowly to broadly elliptic, apex mucronate, base attenuate, midrib raised on the upper surface. Stem, terminal and axillary buds resinous. Stems irregularly four-angled with ribs running down the stem from the base of each petiole. Seed germination time 28 to 45 days.

Endemic to Australia, occurs in WA, NT, CYP and NEQ. Altitudinal range from near sea level to 400 m. Grows in open forest but also found in vine thickets and monsoon forest.

Dodonaea hansenii F.Muell., The Victorian Naturalist 8: 93(1891), Type: Queensland, Stuart R., 1891, S. Johnson s.n.; lecto: MEL 84096; iso: MEL, BRI, K. Fide J. G. West, Brunonia 7: 95 (1984).