Elaeodendron melanocarpum F.Muell.

Celastraceae

Mueller, F.J.H. von (1862) Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae 3: 62. Type: Ad portum Denisonii. Eug. Fitzalan.

False Olive; Black Olive Plum; Plum, Olive; Olive Plum; Plum, Black Olive; Olive, False

Seldom exceeding 30 cm dbh.

Leaf blades about 6-13 x 3-7 cm. Midrib slightly raised on the upper surface, lateral veins forming loops well inside the blade margin. Stipules small and inconspicuous.

Flowers small. Perianth three-merous, rarely four-merous. Petals about 1.5-2 mm long. Disk fleshy, relatively large. Ovules 1 or 2 per locule.

Fruits globular, about 15-20 mm diam. Exocarp black. Endocarp thick, hard and stony.

Cotyledons oblong or elliptic, 30-35 mm long, midrib raised. First pair of leaves toothed. At the tenth leaf stage: leaves obovate, apex bluntly acute, teeth mainly on the upper half of the leaf blade; stipules very small, triangular. Seed germination time 32 to 511 days.

Endemic to Australia, occurs in WA, NT, CYP, NEQ, CEQ and southwards as far as south-eastern Queensland. Altitudinal range from near sea level to 1100 m. Grows in the drier types of rain forest and monsoon forest.

Cassine melanocarpa (F.Muell.) Kuntze, Revisio Generum Plantarum 1: 114(1891). Barringtonia sphaerocarpa C.A.Gardner, WA Forests Department Bulletin 32: 69(1923), Type: Basalt creeks near the Lawley River, WA, 27 July 1921, C. A. Gardiner 1491; holo: PERTH. Cassine glauca (Rottb.) Kuntze, Revisio Generum Plantarum 1: 114(1891).