Pseuduvaria mulgraveana var. glabrescens Jessup

Annonaceae

Jessup, L.W. (1984) Austrobaileya 2(3): 312. Type: Qld, Cook District: near Shoteel Creek, Clohesy River, 16 deg 56 S, 145 deg 36 E, 27 Nov 1984, L.W.Jessup 590 (female) (holo: BRI; iso: QRS.

Seldom exceeding 30 cm dbh. Subrhytidome layer almost black. Fibrous stripes in the outer blaze. Blaze odour sharp and spicy or resembling the odour of incense. Fine oak grain in the wood and a corresponding pattern in the inner blaze.

Leaf blades about 5-16 x 2-7 cm. Petiole short, about 0.1-0.3 cm long. Midrib depressed on the upper surface. Oil dots visible with a lens. Oak grain in the twigs. Twig bark strong and fibrous, emitting an aromatic odour when stripped.

Pedicels about 30-40 mm long, submedial bract about 0.5-1 mm long. Calyx lobes broadly ovate, about 1.5-2.2 mm long, puberulent outside, glabrous inside. Outer petals free, obovate to suborbicular, about 6-8 x 6-8 mm, puberulent outside, glabrous inside; inner petals puberulent outside, glabrous inside, forming a dome about 10-14 x 10.5-13 mm, by fusion of the apices and lateral margins. Anthers sessile, about 1.1-1.3 x 0.8-1 mm. Ovaries about 28, ovules 1 or 2 per ovary.

Fruiting carpels +/- sessile, obovoid, about 15-22 x 8-14 mm. Seeds about 8 mm long, one or two per carpel. Testa scrobiculate. Embryo minute.

First pair of true leaves alternate, shortly petiolate, ovate, margins smooth, sparsely pubescent to almost glabrous. Oil dots visible with a lens. Stem clothed in pale brown +/- erect hairs. At the tenth leaf stage: leaves ovate-elliptic or obovate, apex acuminate, base obtuse, hairy on the upper surface at least along the midrib; small oil dots visible with a lens; petioles hairy. Seed germination time 45 to 59 days.

Endemic to NEQ, restricted to the area between the Mowbray and the Mulgrave Rivers. Altitudinal range from near sea level to 800 m. Grows as an understory tree in well developed rain forest.

Food plant for the larval stages of the Green Spotted Triangle Butterfly. Sankowsky & Neilsen (2000).

Pseuduvaria glabrescens (Jessup) Y.C.F.Su & R.M.K.Saunders, Systematic Botany Monographs 79: 88(2006). Mitrephora froggattii F.Muell., The Australasian Journal of Pharmacy 2 : 3(1887), Type: On Mossmans-River; Sayer and Froggatt.