Ricinocarpos ledifolius F.Muell.

Mueller, F.J.H. von (1858) Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae 1: 76. Type: In virgultis sic dictis Brigalow Scrub Australiae orientalis calidioris.

Ricinocarpos

Flowers and fruits as a shrub 1-4 m tall.

Leaf blades linear, about 3-8 x 0.2-0.5 cm, petioles about 0.2 cm long, margin recurved. Leaf blade underside clothed in white stellate hairs. Venation difficult to distinguish on the upper surface.

Male flowers: Flowers in racemes. Tepals densely hairy on both the inner and outer surfaces. Stamens fused into a staminal column. Female flowers: Flowers usually solitary, subtended by a leaf-like bracteole about 4-5 mm long. Flowers about 8-9 mm diam. Ovary very wrinkled and warty, each wart with several erect hairs. Style very short or absent. Stigmas curled, much divided.

Fruits globular, about 10-12 mm diam., covered with numerous projections about 1-2 mm long. Stigmas persistent at the apex. Aril or caruncle small, scarcely enclosing any of the seed. Seeds elliptic, about 4-5 mm long. Testa dappled brown to almost black. Embryo about 3 mm long, radicle about 1 mm long.

Cotyledons oblong-elliptic, about 25-32 x 5-6 mm, margins ciliate. First pair of leaves tuberculate on the upper surface and stellate hairy on the lower surface. At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blade linear to narrowly elliptic, about 70-80 x 10 mm, apex acuminate to apiculate, base cuneate, petiole about 3 mm long. Underside of the leaf blade densely clothed in fine white stellate hairs. Upper surface glabrous or sparsely clothed in stellate scales. Stem sparsely clothed in stellate scales. Seed germination time 32 days.

Endemic to Queensland (?), occurs in NEQ, CEQ and southwards as far as south-eastern Queensland. Altitudinal range in NEQ from 200-700 m. Grows in monsoon forest and vine thickets.