Nothorites megacarpus (A.S.George & B.Hyland) P.H.Weston & A.R.Mast

Proteaceae

Mast, A.R. et al (2008) American Journal of Botany 95(7): 865.

Oak grain in the wood and a corresponding almost black or dark pattern in the inner blaze.

Oak grain in the twigs. Leaf blades about 5-10 x 2-3 cm, green on the underside. Petioles glabrous, about 0.5-1.2 cm long. Lateral veins forming loops just inside the blade margin. Terminal buds and young shoots clothed in prostrate, brown hairs. Midrib raised on the upper surface. Petiole often swollen at its junction with the twig.

Flowers paired, pedicels about 3 mm, but without a common peduncle. Tepals pubescent on the outer surface, about 3.5-4 mm long. Staminal filaments free from the tepals and more than twice the length of the anthers. Hypogynous glands fused to form a 4-pointed star-shaped structure. Ovary sessile or shortly stalked, appressed pubescent. Ovules 2.

Fruits about 2.5 x 2 cm. Seed + marginal wing about 2 x 1.5 cm, embryo about 15 x 12 mm.

Cotyledons fleshy, obovate or obtriangular, about 15-18 x 11-16 mm, apex obtuse or truncate, base sagittate. First pair of leaves hairy on both the upper and lower surfaces and along the margins. At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blade narrowly elliptic, apex acuminate or acute, base cuneate to attenuate, hairy on both the upper and lower surfaces especially along the midrib and the leaf margin. Midrib raised on the upper surface of the leaf blade; terminal bud clothed in reddish brown or purple hairs. Seed germination time 31 days.

Endemic to NEQ, known only from collections made in the Mt Spurgeon-Mt Lewis area and Mt Bartle Frere. Altitudinal range from 1100-1200 m. Grows in well developed mountain rain forest.

Orites megacarpa A.S.George & B.Hyland, Flora of Australia 16: 497(1995), Type: Mt Bartle Frere, QLD, 27 Dec. 1986, M.Godwin C2960 & J.P.Stanton.