Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants - Online edition

Eumachia frutescens (C.T.White) Barrabé, C.M.Taylor & Razafim.


Herb (herbaceous or woody, under 1 m tall)
Shrub (woody or herbaceous, 1-6 m tall)
Click/tap on images to enlarge
Flowers. © Barry Jago
Leaves and Flowers. © CSIRO
Leaves and Flowers. © CSIRO
Leaves and fruit. © Australian Plant Image Index (APII). Photographer: J. Wrigley.
Fruit, side views, cross section and seeds. © W. T. Cooper
Scale bar 10mm. © CSIRO
Cotyledon stage, epigeal germination. © CSIRO
10th leaf stage. © CSIRO
Family

Taylor, C.M. et al (2017) Candollea 72(2): 310.

Common name

Turkey Bush

Stem

Usually flowers and fruits as a shrub about 1-3 m tall.

Leaves

Stipules broadly triangular, about 4 mm long, +/- encircling the twigs and persisting on the twigs even when the leaves have fallen. Leaf blades rather large, about 8-20 x 3-6 cm.

Flowers

Calyx minutely 4-5-lobed. Corolla tube about 3 mm long, corolla lobes about 1 mm long. Corolla glabrous on the outer surface but densely hairy on the inner surface. Anthers about 1.5-2 mm long.

Fruit

Fruits about 10-12 x 7-8 mm. Seeds about 6 x 5 mm, usually two per fruit, each seed enclosed in a tough endocarp with the consistency of human fingernail. Embryo small, about 1-1.5 mm long, radicle longer and wider than the cotyledons. Endosperm hard.

Seedlings

Cotyledons stipulate, broadly ovate, about 14-17 x 12-16 mm. First pair of leaves opposite and stipulate. At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blade narrowly elliptic, glabrous. Stipules interpetiolar, about 3 mm long, abruptly narrowed into an aristate tip. Seed germination time 83 to 91 days.

Distribution and Ecology

Endemic to Queensland, occurs in CYP and NEQ. Altitudinal range from near sea level to 800 m. Grows as an understory plant in undisturbed lowland and upland rain forest. Usually found in the drier, more seasonal types of rain forest.

Synonyms
Hodgkinsonia frutescens C.T.White, Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland 53: 220 (1942), Type: Lectotype: Australia. Queensland: Yungaburra, 24.XII.1939, Flecker s.n. (BRI [BRIAQ0317424]; isolecto- : CNS [QRS14066]). Syntype : Australia. Queensland: Atherton, Cook Pastoral District, XI-XII, A.L. Merrotsy s.n. (BRI [BRI-AQ0318037]).
RFK Code
3169
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