Glochidion benthamianum Domin

Domin, K. (1928) Bibliotheca Botanica 89(4): 872. Type: Queensland: Rockingham Bay, Dallachy; iso: K.

Buttonwood; Cheese Tree; Bentham's Buttonwood

Usually flowers and fruits as a shrub 2-4 m tall.

Leaf blades about 3.5-6.7 x 1.5-2.5 cm, petioles about 2-5 cm long. Stipules triangular, about 1-1.5 mm long. Lateral veins about 5-8 on each side of the midrib forming loops inside the blade margin.

Male and female flowers pedicellate. Male flowers: Flowers about 4 mm diam., pedicels about 4 mm long, tepals about 2 x 1-1.5 mm. Anthers about 0.6 mm long, sessile, fused to one another. Female flowers: Flowers pedicels about 15 mm long. Styles and stigmas fused together to form a dome-shaped mass on the top of the ovary.

Fruiting pedicels long and slender (about 15-20 mm long). Fruits about 8-12 mm diam. divided into 6-12 segments, calyx persistent at the base. Seeds about 4 x 4 mm, testa hard. Aril reddish-orange, covering most of the seed. Embryo about 3.2 x 2 mm, cotyledons flat, longer than the radicle.

Cotyledons glabrous, about 8-9 x 5-7 mm, petioles about 0.5-1 mm long. First pair of leaves obovate to spathulate, about 11 x 6 mm, petioles less than 0.5 mm long. Stipules linear, about 1 mm long. At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blade elliptic to obovate, apex obtuse, base cuneate, somewhat glaucous on the underside. Lateral veins about 5-7 on each side of the midrib. Stipules triangular, about 1 mm long. Seed germination time 32 to 131 days.

Occurs in CYP and NEQ. Altitudinal range from near sea level to about 400 m. Usually grows in open forest but sometimes found on the margins of rain forest. Also occurs in New Guinea.