Ilex arnhemensis subsp. ferdinandi (Harms) Pedley

Aquifoliaceae

Pedley, L. (1984) Flora of Australia 22: 223.

Northern Holly; Ilex

Surface of the sapwood turns purple or black on exposure and similarly the inner blaze. Fine oak grain in the wood and inner blaze.

Stipules small, falling early. Leafy twigs green with scattered pale coloured lenticels. Leaf blades about 7.5-13.5 x 2.5-5.5 cm. Lateral veins about 5-8 on each side of the midrib. Fine oak grain in the twigs.

Flowers small, petals about 3-4 mm long in the male flowers but much smaller, inconspicuous and scarcely distinguishable from the sepals in the female flowers. Style absent or very short.

Fruits globular or depressed globular, about 4-5 mm diam. containing 12-16 pyrenes.

Cotyledons ovate, 5-7 mm long. First few pairs of leaves with small conspicuous teeth. At the tenth leaf stage: leaves glabrous on the upper surface, +/- elliptic, apex acuminate, margin usually serrate; stipules very small. Seed germination time 41 to 81 days.

Widespread in CYP and NEQ, and in the northern area of CEQ. Altitudinal range from near sea level to 600 m. Grows in well developed rain forest and gallery forest, usually near water or along gullies. Also occurs in New Guinea.

Ilex peduncularis F.Muell., Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae 7: 105(1869), Type: Rockingham Bay, J. Dallachy. Ilex ferdinandi Harms, Die Naturlichen Pflanzenfamilien ed. 2 20b: 404(1942), Type: Rockingham Bay, J. Dallachy?. Ilex brassii Merr. & L.M.Perry, Journal of the Arnold Arboretum 20: 334(1939), Type: Gaima, Lower Fly River, Papua New Guinea, nov. 1936, L. J. Brass 8291.