Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants - Online edition
Parsonsia lenticellata C.T.White
White, C.T. (1936) Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland 47: 70. Type: Queensland, Mowbray River, 27 Jan. 19932, L.J. Brass, No. 2020; lecto: BRI; iso: A, MEL. Fide J. B. Williams, Fl. Australia 28: 318 (1996).
A slender vine not exceeding a stem diameter of 2 cm.
Leaf blades about 4-9 x 1-2.6 cm, petioles about 0.25-0.4 cm long. Lateral veins about 8-9 on each side of the midrib. Small glands (about 0.8 mm long) resembling tiny stipules visible on the twigs between the petiole bases. Twigs and petioles produce a clear exudate. Twigs often marked with elongated lenticels.
Inflorescence densely clothed in short hairs. Flowers about 5 mm diam. at anthesis. Calyx lobes about 2.5-3 mm long, reflexed at anthesis, finely pubescent on the outer surface. A number of small finger-like glands present on the inner surface near the base of the sepals, usually 2-4 per sepal. Corolla tube about 1-1.5 mm long, lobes about 1.3 -3 mm long, erect at anthesis. Corolla finely pubescent on the outer surface, corolla tube hairy on the inner surface. Staminal filaments hairy, about 1.1 mm long. Anthers about 2 mm long, bases sagittate, anthers fused together to form a cone around the style. Nectary (disk) glands five, each about 0.3-0.6 mm long surrounding the base of the ovary. Style and stigma about 1.5 mm long. Ovules numerous in each locule.
Fruits about 7-9 x 0.7 cm containing numerous seeds. Seeds about 8 mm long, each crowned by a tuft of pale brown hairs about 17 mm long. One side of the seed concave and the other convex. Testa surface longitudinally wrinkled. Embryo about 7 mm long, cotyledons longer and wider than the radicle. Endosperm hard.
Cotyledons elliptic, about 12-16 x 7-8 mm. First leaf blades +/- linear, several times longer than wide, longer but narrower than the cotyledons, apex acute, base obtuse. Hypocotyl hairy. At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blade linear to linear-lanceolate, apex acuminate, base obtuse. Lower surface of the leaf blade much paler than the upper surface. Midrib depressed on the upper surface. A number of pale, linear, stipule-like glands about 0.7 mm long present on the stems between the points of attachment of the petioles. Leaf blade margins recurved. Stems twining. Seed germination time 47 days.