Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants - Online edition
Erycibe coccinea (F.M.Bailey) Hoogland ex Ooststr.
Ooststroom, S.J. van (1951) Flora Malesiana ser. I 4: 431.
Flowers often produced in abundance. Flowers about 13-20 mm diam., waxy, cream to white, pleasantly perfumed. Sepals orbicular, about 3 mm diam., densely clothed in brown +/- prostrate hairs on the outer surface. Corolla tube about 2-3 mm long, lobes 5-9 x 8-13 mm, each corolla lobe bilobed at the apex. Each corolla lobe with a basal triangular portion densely clothed in prostrate brown hairs. Anthers pyriform, about 1-1.5 x 1 mm. Staminal filaments about 1-2 mm long. Pollen white. Ovary about 1 x 1 mm. Ovules 4, erect. Stigma +/- globose, 5-ribbed.
Fruits ellipsoidal to pyriform, about 17-20 x 11-14 mm, calyx remnants persistent at the base. Seeds about 13-17 x 8-9 mm. Cotyledons green when fresh, contorted and folded. Radicle located in the middle of the cotyledonary mass, much shorter and narrower than the cotyledons. Testa or similar material intrudes in distinct bands into the cotyledons.
Cataphylls 2 or 3, produced before the first true leaves. First true leaves elliptic, about 7 x 2 cm, apex obtuse, acute or acuminate, base cuneate, petioles about 0.2-0.3 cm long. Upper and lower leaf blade surfaces clothed in appressed medifixed hairs. At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blades elliptic to obovate, about 9-10 x 3-4 cm, apex acuminate, base cuneate to attenuate, petiole about 0.4 cm long, densely clothed in dark brown hairs. Midrib depressed on the upper surface. Upper and lower leaf blade surfaces sparsely clothed in brown medifixed hairs. Terminal bud densely clothed in dark brown hairs. Seed germination time 26 to 44 days.
This species has horticultural potential as it produces large numbers of pleasantly perfumed showy white flowers.