Amaracarpus nematopodus (F.Muell.) P.I.Forst.

Rubiaceae

Forster, P.I (2010) Austrobaileya 8(2): 156-158.

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

Stipules and twigs clothed in pale tortuous hairs. Stipules about 7-8 mm long, forked at the apex. Leaf blades about 5-14 x 1-5 cm. Petioles about 0.6-1.2 cm long, grooved or channelled on the upper surface. Lateral veins about 12-15, forming distinct loops inside the blade margin.

Each flower subtended by two bracts. Calyx about 0.8-1.2 mm long, the lobes about 0.3-0.4 mm long. Corolla tube about 2 mm long, hairy on the inner surface. Corolla lobes about 2 mm long., apex of the lobes hooked on the inner surface. Pollen white. Disk comparatively thick and fleshy surrounding the base of the style. Stigma bilobed clothed in fine hairs like cotton wool. Ovules solitary in each cell of the ovary.

Fruits globular, about 4-6 mm diam., calyx persistent at the apex. Usually two seeds per fruit, each hemispherical, about 3 x 4 x 2 mm, embryo about 1 mm long. Cotyledons translucent to white.

Cotyledons orbicular, about 7-10 mm diam., stipules bifid at the apex. First pair of leaves opposite, stipules about 2-3 mm long, narrowly triangular and bifid at the apex. At the tenth leaf stage: lateral veins forming loops inside the blade margin. Petiole grooved on the upper surface. Stipules about 8-10 mm long, hairy, bifid at the apex. Stem, petiole and midrib on the underside of the leaf blade hairy. Seed germination time 55 to 170 days.

Endemic to NEQ. Altitudinal range from near sea level to 1100 m. Grows as an understory plant in a variety of undisturbed, well developed rain forests from the lowlands to the uplands.

Antirhea sp. Lower Downey (B.Gray 5536) [Provisional HISPID Phrase Name].  Guettardella sp. Lower Downey (B.Gray 5536) [Provisional HISPID Phrase Name].  Psychotria nematopoda F.Muell., Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae 7(52): 48 (1869) Type: Queensland. NORTH KENNEDY DISTRICT: Mackay River [now Tully River], 15 October 1867, J.Dallachy s.n. (holo: MEL1583760).