Rhysotoechia mortoniana (F.Muell.) Radlk.

Sapindaceae

Radlkofer, L.A.T. (1879) Actes du Congres International de Botanistes .. Amsterdam for 1877 : 132.

Seldom exceeding 30 cm dbh. Blaze odour resembles that of freshly shelled peas (Pisum sativum).

Leaflets about 4-6 in the compound leaf, each leaflet blade about 6-12.5 x 2.5-6 cm. Lateral veins forming loops (often a double series) inside the blade margin. Compound leaf rhachis and leaflet stalks usually reddish purple. Leaflet stalks swollen at their junction with the compound leaf rhachis. Numerous small black dots often visible with a lens on the underside of the leaflet blades.

Panicles up to 26 cm long, pedicels about 6-9 mm long. Calyx lobes about 3-6 mm long. Petals about 4-5 mm long with two glandular hairy scales, puberulent towards the base. Disk glabrous, stamens inserted inside the disk. Stamens usually eight, filaments about 4 mm long, shortly hairy only in the lower half.

Fruits stipitate, broadly obcordate or obovoid, keeled towards the base, about 12-14 x 20-32 mm. Valves thinly coriaceous. Seeds about 10 x 8 mm, aril small, yellow, basal.

First pair of leaves alternate, apex acuminate, base cuneate. At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blade ovate, apex attenuate, base cuneate, midrib raised on the upper surface. Petiole swollen at its junction with the stem. Lateral veins forming loops inside the blade margin. Seed germination time 18 to 44 days.

Endemic to NEQ, restricted to the area between Mt Spurgeon and the Tully River. Altitudinal range from 350-1000 m. Grows as an understory tree in upland and mountain rain forest.

Cupania mortoniana F.Muell., Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae 5: 177(1865), Type: Ad sinum Rockingham-Bay in summitatibus montium flumini Mackay originem praebentium.