Wilkiea cordata Whiffin

Monimiaceae

Whiffin, T. (2007) Flora of Australia 2: 453. Type: Qld; State Forest Reserve 607, Emerald L.A., Mt Haig, B. Gray 1913; Holo: QRS; Iso: LTB.

Usually flowers and fruits as a shrub about 1-3 m tall.

Leaf blades about 11-14 x 4.4-7 cm, petioles short, less than 1 cm long. Leaf blades stiff, arched between the lateral veins which form a series of loops inside the blade margin.

Solitary flowers on pedicels about 1.5 cm long and with triangular floral bracts about 4 mm long. Flowers in fascicles or racemes on pedicels about 1 cm long and with triangular floral bracts about 2 mm long. Pollen white.

Receptacle yellow. Fruiting carpels about 11-14 x 9-12 mm, dull black in colour. Embryo about 5-6 mm long, radicle about as long as the cotyledons but not as wide.

Cotyledons ovate or cordate, about 20-29 x 9-20 mm, apex apiculate, base rounded, margins sometimes with 1 or 2 teeth near the base. First pair of leaves with toothed margins. At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blade elliptic, apex acuminate, base cuneate, margin conspicuously toothed. Lateral veins forming loops inside the blade margin, leaf blade arched between the lateral veins on the upper surface. Midrib raised on the upper surface of the leaf blade. Seed germination time 71 to 80 days.

Endemic to NEQ. Altitudinal range not known with any certainty but collected between 100-800 m. Grows as an understory plant in well developed upland rain forest and perhaps also in other types of rain forest.

Wilkiea sp. (Boonjee BG 5413), Australian Tropical Rain Forest Plants, Trees , Shrubs & Vines : (2003). Wilkiea sp. (Barong, L.W. Jessup 719), Names & Distributio of Queensland Plants, Algae Lichens : 116(2002). Wilkiea sp. (Russell Gorge, S.J. Dansie 1909), Names & Distribution Queensland Plants, Algae Lichens : 116(2002).