Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants - Online edition

Siphonodon australis Benth.


Tree
Click/tap on images to enlarge
Flower. © CSIRO
Leaves and fruits. © CSIRO
Scale bar 10mm. © CSIRO
Cotyledon stage, epigeal germination. © CSIRO
10th leaf stage. © CSIRO
Family

Bentham, G. (1863) Flora Australiensis 1: 403. Type: Queensland. Brisbane river, A. Cunningham. N.S. Wales. Clarence river, Beckler.

Common name

Ivorywood; Scrub Guava; Wild Guava

Stem

A thin orange layer usually visible beneath the dead bark.

Leaves

Leaf blades about 4.5-12 x 2.5-6 cm. Midrib and lateral veins raised on the upper surface. Stipules small and inconspicuous.

Flowers

Inflorescence about 10-20 mm long, shorter than the leaves, 1-3 flowered, pedicels about 8-10 mm long. Sepals +/- semicircular, about 1.5-3 mm long. Petals nearly orbicular, about 6.5-8 mm. Anther filaments about 1.5 x 1.5 mm, as wide or wider than the anthers. Disk enclosing the ovary and surrounding the style which is located in a well in the disk. Stigma +/- level with the disk.

Fruit

Fruits globular, obovoid or depressed globular, about 25-40 mm long. Seeds immersed in the granular pericarp, each surrounded by a very hard endocarp. Seeds about 6 x 2.5 mm.

Seedlings

Cotyledons elliptic to obovate, apex rounded. At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blade lanceolate or elliptic, apex acute, apiculate or mucronate, base cuneate, margin crenate or serrate. Seed germination time 717 days.

Distribution and Ecology

Endemic to Australia, occurs in CYP, NEQ, CEQ and in south-eastern Queensland and north-eastern New South Wales but not in coastal central Queensland. Altitudinal range in CYP and NEQ from sea level to 900 m. Grows in drier rain forest and monsoon forest.

Synonyms
Siphonodon australis Benth. var. australis, The Queensland Flora 1: 261(1899). Siphonodon australis var. keysii F.M.Bailey, The Queensland Flora 1: 261(1899), Type: Mount Perry, J. Keys.
RFK Code
499
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