Tragia finalis P.I.Forst.

Forster, P.I. (1997) Australian Systematic Botany 10(6): 863. Type: Queensland, Bolt Head, Temple Bay (12 14 S, 143 05 E), P.I. Forster 19348 & M.C. Tucker, 25 June 1996 (holo: BRI; iso QRS).

Vine, Stinging; Stinging Vine

A slender vine not exceeding a stem diameter of 2 cm.

Leaf blades about 4.5-8 x 3-6 cm, petioles about 1.8-3.6 cm. Upper and lower leaf blade surfaces sparsely clothed in pale-coloured stinging hairs. Teeth rounded, 20-24 on each side. Petioles densely clothed in white stinging hairs. Lateral veins five or six on each side of the midrib. Stipules triangular, about 2-5 mm long.

Inflorescence clothed in stinging hairs. Female flowers produced at the base of the inflorescence and the males towards the apex. Male flowers: Floral bracts about 2 mm long. Tepals broadly triangular, about 1 mm long. Female flowers: Each flower subtended by a bract about 2.5 mm long and two smaller ones each about 2.5 mm long. Flowers hairy, about 2 mm diam. Tepals 8, each about 1.5 mm long. Ovary densely hairy. One ovule per locule.

Fruits 3-lobed, about 6-7 x 9-12 mm, densely clothed in stiff (stinging?) hairs. Perianth persistent at the base of the fruit and style remnants persistent at the apex. Seeds up to 3 per fruit. Seeds globose, about 5 mm diam. Embryo about 2.5-3 mm long. Cotyledons about 2 mm long, Radicle straight, about 1-1.5 mm long.

Cotyledons square to reniform, about 13 x 13-14 mm, apex rounded to emarginate, base truncate, cordate to obtuse. Midrib forking well back from the apex of the cotyledon. First pair of leaves cordate, margins coarsely toothed, upper and lower surfaces clothed in pale hairs. At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blade cordate, ovate or lanceolate, apex acuminate, base cordate, about 3-5 lateral veins on each side of the midrib. Margin serrate-dentate with 20-30 teeth on each side. Both the upper and lower surfaces of the leaf blade clothed in pale-coloured hairs. Those on the upper surface often with a swollen base. These hairs are probably stinging hairs. Stems +/- twining. Stipules about 4 mm long, hairy. Seed germination time 25 days.

Endemic to Queensland, occurs in CYP and NEQ. Altitudinal range from near sea level to 450 m. Grows in vine thicket, monsoon forest or on the margins of rain forest or gallery forest.