Pseuduvaria froggattii (F.Muell.) Jessup

Jessup, L.W. (1984) Austrobaileya 2(3): 227.

A small tree seldom exceeding 20 cm dbh. Subrhytidome layer very dark, almost black. Blaze odour strong, resembling incense.

Leaf blades about 10-30 x 3-7 cm. Numerous small oil dots visible with a lens. Petiole transversely wrinkled and grooved on the upper surface. Fine oak grain in the twigs but more noticeable in the twig bark. Freshly broken twigs have a strong odour.

Pedicels about 15-32 mm long, submedial bract about 1.2-2 mm long. Calyx lobes broadly ovate or suborbicular, about 2-3 mm long, puberulent outside, glabrous inside. Outer petals broadly obovate to suborbicular, about 9-9.5 x 7.5-8 mm, puberulent outside, glabrous inside; inner petals puberulent outside, glabrous inside, forming a dome about 8.5-12 x 9-12 mm. Ovaries about 38, ovules two or three per ovary.

Fruit produced on the trunk and branches. Fruiting carpels obovoid-ellipsoid or ovoid, about 15-20 mm long. Seeds one or two per carpel. Testa rugose. Embryo minute.

One cataphyll sometimes produced before the first true leaves. First pair of true leaves shortly petiolate, ovate-lanceolate, margins smooth, mainly glabrous on the upper surface, sometimes pubescent on the lower surface. Oil dots visible with a lens. Stem sparsely clothed in short pale yellow-brown hairs. At the tenth leaf stage: leaves elliptic to elliptic-obovate, apex acuminate, base cuneate or obtuse, upper surface glabrous; very small oil dots just visible with a lens. Petioles transversely wrinkled, hairy. Seed germination time 54 to 109 days.

Endemic to NEQ, restricted to the area between the Mowbray River and Cape Tribulation, perhaps extending to the Bloomfield River. Altitudinal range from near sea level to 100 m. Grows in lowland rain forest.

Food plant for the larval stages of the Green Spotted Triangle and Pale Green Triangle Butterflies. Common & Waterhouse (1981); Sankowsky & Neilsen (2000).