Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants - Online edition

Homalium brachybotrys (F.Muell.) F.Muell.


Shrub (woody or herbaceous, 1-6 m tall)
Tree
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Leaves and Flowers. © CSIRO
Leaves and Flowers. © CSIRO
Scale bar 10mm. © CSIRO
Family

Mueller, F.J.H. von (1861) Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae 2: 127.

Common name

Boxwood, Hard; Hard Boxwood

Stem

Usually encountered as a small tree, seldom exceeding 30 cm dbh. Blaze usually very conspicuously layered.

Leaves

Leaf blades about 3-4 x 1-2.5 cm. Midrib raised on the upper surface of the leaf blade, marginal teeth rounded. Young twigs pink to reddish but usually marked by pale longitudinally elongated lenticels. Stipules small and inconspicuous.

Flowers

Inflorescence about 2.5-5 cm long. Flowers unpleasantly perfumed. Perianth about 1.5 mm long. Stamens solitary, rarely in pairs. Ovary hairy on the inner surface but the hairs not filling the ovary cavity. Ovules pendulous, aggregated in groups and attached to the ovary wall towards the apex of the ovary.

Fruit

Fruits about 3-4 mm long, resembling a shuttlecock. Petals and sepals persistent.

Seedlings

Features not available.

Distribution and Ecology

Endemic to Queensland, occurs in NEQ and extends into the inland northern part of CEQ. Altitudinal range from 300-600 m. Grows in monsoon forest and dry scrubs often among boulders or along watercourses.

Synonyms
Blackwellia brachybotrys F.Muell., Trans. & Proc. Philos. Inst. Victoria 3: 48(1859), Type: Sources of the Gilbert River, F. Mueller; holo: MEL.
RFK Code
841
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