Gynochthodes oresbia Halford & A.J.Ford

Rubiaceae

Ford, A.J. & Halford, D.A. (2006) Austrobaileya 7: 358. Type: Queensland, State Forest Reserve 194 (Western?), 30 Dec. 2002, B. Gray 8390. Holo: BRI; iso: QRS.

Vine stem diameters to 10 cm recorded. Bark finely tessellated, the flakes about 2-3 mm wide. No bark inclusions in the wood.

Leaf blades brittle, cracking and breaking when folded back on themselves. Leaf blades about 5.5-14 x 1.5-6 cm, petioles about 1-1.5 cm long. Stipules about 2-4 mm long, fused or almost fused at the base and forming a short sheath around the twigs. Lateral veins forming distinct loops well inside the blade margin. Leaf blades dry to a dark colour, almost black. Stubs from axillary branches or inflorescences persist in the leaf axils.

Flowers about 8-9 mm diam. Hypanthium about 2 mm long. Calyx lobes absent. Corolla tube about 2.5 mm long, lobes about 6.5 mm long. Corolla tube +/- glabrous on the inner surface. Anthers about 2.5 mm long, filaments about 1.5-2 mm long. Style about 5 mm long. Stigmas 2, each about 3 mm long.

Fruits depressed globular, about 13-15 x 8-12 mm. Seeds up to four per fruit, each seed about 6-8 x 4.5 mm and surrounded by a bony endocarp forming a pyrene about 10 mm long. Embryo about 3 x 0.4 mm. Cotyledons about as wide as the radicle. Adaxial surfaces of the cotyledons appressed.

Features not available.

Endemic to NEQ. Altitudinal range from 590m to 1200 m. Grows in lowland and upland rain forest.

Often found as a shrub when juvenile and before the stems twine; forms a woody canopy vine in mature form.

Morinda sp. (Black Leaves BG 1677), Australian Tropical Rain Forest Plants, Trees, Shrubs & Vines : (2003). Morinda sp. (Mt Finnigan L.J.Webb 12114), Names and Distribution of Queensland Plantsm Algae and Lichens. : 173-177(2002). Gynochtodes sp. (Lamb Range), Fruits of the Australian Tropical Rainforest : 442(2004).