Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants - Online edition

Palmeria coriacea C.T.White


Vine
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Male flowers. © CSIRO
Scale bar 10mm. © CSIRO
Family

White, C.T. (1936) Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland 47: 75. Type: "Thornton Peak, alt. 4,000 ft., L.J. Brass, No. 2282, in low scrub (ripe fruits); 14/3/32."

Stem

Vine stem diameters to 20 cm recorded.

Leaves

Leaf blades about 4.5-14 x 2.5-7.2 cm, petioles about 0.4-1.4 cm long. Lateral veins forming fairly definite loops inside the blade margin. Lower surfaces of the leaf blade glabrous or occasional stellate hairs along the midrib. Oak grain in the twigs.

Flowers

Male flowers: Inflorescence about 7-9 cm long, flowers about 7-9 mm diam. Tepals hooded, about 4 mm long, outer surface densely clothed in stellate hairs. Anthers +/- sessile, hairy, about 1 mm long, about 6 associated with each tepal. Female flowers: Inflorescence about 1-2 cm long, stellate hairy. Flowers about 3 mm diam., tepals difficult to distinguish. The inner surface of the receptacle densely clothed in bristly hairs with the carpels borne amongst the hairs. Carpels 11-15 per flower, each carpel about 0.5 mm long. Ovules 1 per carpel.

Fruit

Fruiting receptacle green on the outer surface but red and hairy on the inner surface, about 15-25 mm diam. Fruiting carpels black and shiny, about 1-9 per receptacle. Seeds about 5-6 mm diam., obtuse at one end but pointed at the other. Embryo about 1-1.5 mm long, cotyledons divergent, adaxial surfaces not appressed. Radicle shorter than the cotyledons.

Seedlings

Features not available.

Distribution and Ecology

Occurs in NEQ, from Mt Misery to Tinaroo Range. Altitudinal range from 900 to 1550 m. Grows in upland and mountain rain forest.

Natural History & Notes

P. coriacea is distinguished from P. scandens by its leaves which are more or less glabrous, shorter and thicker.

RFK Code

2713

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