Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants - Online edition

Uvaria micrantha (A.DC.) Hook.f. & Thomson


Vine
Click/tap on images to enlarge
Flower. © R.L. Barrett
Flower. © R.L. Barrett
Flower. © R.L. Barrett
Leaves and flower. © R.L. Barrett
Leaves and fruit. © R.L. Barrett
Scale bar 10mm. © CSIRO
10th leaf stage. © CSIRO
Cotyledon stage, durian germination. © CSIRO
Vine stem bark and vine stem transverse section. © CSIRO
Family

Sinclair, J. (1955) The Gardens Bulletin, Singapore 14: 225.

Stem

Grows into a large tree-top vine, stem diameters up to 5 cm recorded. Blaze odour aromatic but difficult to describe, perhaps resembling the odour of wild limes (Citrus aurantifolia). Vascular rays in the wood rather narrow, more noticeable in the bark.

Leaves

Leaf blades about 4.5-11.5 x 1-4 cm, petioles 0.2-0.6 cm long. Underside of the leaf blade sparsely clothed in pale +/- prostrate hairs, midrib hairy on the upper surface. Lateral veins forming loops inside the blade margin. Oil dots very small, red (?) usually 1 per reticulation. Twig bark strong and fibrous when stripped. Oak grain in the twigs. Tendrils are modified branches.

Flowers

Flowers pinkish orange, about 5-6 mm diam. Sepals broadly triangular, about 3 x 3 mm. Petals three + three in two whorls, thick and fleshy, about 4 x 3 mm, darker in colour near the apex. Stamens numerous, about 100 per flower, anthers sessile, each anther about 1 mm long. Carpels hairy, about 30-50 per flower, each carpel about 1 mm long. Stigmas hairy, bilobed.

Fruit

Fruiting carpels about 7-11 x 6-10 mm on stalks about 5-14 mm long. Seeds 1-4 per carpel, each seed about 6-8 x 4-6 mm. Endosperm cream. Embryo minute, less than 1 mm long, consisting mostly of radicle. Embryo embedded in the endosperm at the base of the seed.

Seedlings

First leaves elliptic, base obtuse, oil dots visible with a lens. Lower surface of the leaf blades densely hairy, upper surface with a few hairs on the midrib. At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blade narrowly elliptic, apex acute, bluntly pointed, base obtuse. Lower surface of the leaf blade densely clothed in rusty brown hairs at least when young. Terminal bud and stem densely clothed in rusty brown hairs. Seed germination time 78 to 152 days.

Distribution and Ecology

Occurs in WA and CYP. Altitudinal range from near sea level to 500 m. Grows in monsoon forest and gallery forest. Also occurs in Asia and Malesia.

Natural History & Notes

Food plant for the larval stages of the Green Spotted Triangle Butterfly. Sankowsky & Neilsen (2000).

Synonyms

Guatteria micrantha A.DC., Mem. Anon. : 42 (1832), Type: Burma, Amhearst ,Wall. Cat. 6449. Holo: K-W; iso: BM. Cyathostemma micranthum (A.DC.) J.Sinclair, The Gardens Bulletin, Singapore 14: 225 (1955). Popowia nitida King, J. Asiatic Soc. Bengal 61: 92(1893), Type: India, South Andaman Islands, 4 July 1891, King s.n. Holo: K. Lecto fide Utteridge (2000). Cyathostemma sumatrana (Miq.) Boerl., Icon. Bogor 1: 126(1899). Polyalthia fruticans A.DC., Mem. Anon. : 42(1832), Type: Burma, Tavoy, Gomez s.n. (Wall. Cat. 6430). Holo:K-W; iso: BM. Anaxogorea sumatrana Miq., Fl. Ned. Ind., Eerste bijv. 3: 382(1861), Type: Sumatra, Lampung, Teijsmann 4383. Holo: L; iso: GH, K.

RFK Code
2168
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