Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants - Online edition

Symplocos hayesii C.T.White & W.D.Francis


Herb (herbaceous or woody, under 1 m tall)
Shrub (woody or herbaceous, 1-6 m tall)
Click/tap on images to enlarge
Fruit, side views, cross section and seed. © W. T. Cooper
Scale bar 10mm. © CSIRO
Cotyledon and 1st leaf stage, epigeal germination. © CSIRO
Family

C.T.White & W.D.Francis (1922) Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland 33: 158. Type: Queensland, Glenallyn, Atherton Tableland, H.C. Hayes s.n.; holo: BRI; iso: K.

Stem

Usually flowers and fruits as a shrub about 1-2 m tall but also flowers when smaller.

Leaves

Leaf blades about 6-12 x 2.5-5.5 cm. Twigs, petioles and terminal buds clothed in erect, +/- tortuous, pale yellow or brown hairs. Scale leaves often produced on the twigs between flushes of normal sized leaves. Lateral veins forming loops well inside the blade margin. Petioles short, about 0.3-0.7 cm long, grooved on the upper surface.

Flowers

Inflorescence to about 3 cm long. Calyx lobes about 1-1.5 mm long. Corolla about 2.5 mm long. Stamens about 15. Female flowers: Ovary orange. Style glabrous, about 1 mm long. Stigma green.

Fruit

Fruits spindle-shaped to cylindrical, often curved, about 15-20 x 5 mm, calyx lobes persistent at the apex. Stone slightly curved, about 12-14 x 4 mm long. Embryo about 7-8 x 0.5 mm, straight, narrowly cylindrical, cotyledons straight, no wider than the radicle.

Seedlings

Cotyledons linear, about 6-10 x 1 mm. First pair of leaves alternate, margin toothed or lobed, underside sparsely hairy. Stem hairy above the cotyledons. Seed germination time 363 days.

Distribution and Ecology

Endemic to NEQ. Altitudinal range from 350-1200 m. Grows as an understory plant in undisturbed upland and mountain rain forest most frequently encountered on red soils derived from basalt but not confined to this soil type.

RFK Code
3234
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