Argophyllum curtum A.R.Bean & P.I.Forst.

Bean, A.R. & Forster, P.I. (2018) Austrobaileya 10(2): 214-215, Fig. 1D-F, Map 2. Type: "Queensland. Cook District: Freshwater Forest Reserve, Lake Morris road, 12 May 2005, P.I. Forster PIF30959 & R. Jensen (holo: BRI [2 sheets + spirit]; iso: CNS, L, MEL, NSW)."

Shrub 2-5 m high. Hairs on new growth rusty or brown; hairs more than 10 cm from growing point white or creamy.

Petiole 13-28 mm long; fully expanded lamina elliptic to broadly-elliptic, 109-170 mm long, 42-70 mm wide, 2.3-3.3 times longer than wide; 6-9 secondary veins on either side of midrib. Lamina apex shortly acuminate or acute; base cuneate, not oblique or occasionally oblique by up to 4 mm. Lamina margins denticulate, with teeth all about the same size, 23-38 on each side of the lamina, the longer teeth 0.3-1 mm long. Upper surface of fully expanded lamina green, glabrous. Hairs on upper surface of developing leaves appressed, 0.3-0.6 mm long. Lower surface of lamina white or creamy-coloured, hairs appressed; secondary veins brown to creamy, raised; tertiary veins creamy, ± flush with indumentum.

Inflorescences axillary, paniculate, 35-93 mm long, densely tomentose, primary axis 30-82 mm long, secondary branches 9-32 mm long, bracts narrowly-deltate, 1.8-5 mm long. Pedicels 0.5-3 mm long; flowering hypanthium cupular, 2.6-3.5 mm diameter. Calyx lobes 0.9-1.4 mm long; petals 2.3-3.2 mm long, white, corolla appendages white, c. 1.3 mm long. Staminal filaments 1-1.2 mm long; anthers 0.7-0.8 mm long. Style c. 1.2 mm long; ovary 2-locular.

Capsules with hemispherical hypanthium, 2.8-3.5 mm long, 4.3-5.5 mm diameter, teeth 4, exserted. Seeds 0.45-0.55 mm long.

Cotyledons orbicular about 2-3 x 1.5-2 mm, petioles about 1 mm long. First leaf sparsely hairy, produced very close to the cotyledons so that it could be mistaken for a third cotyledon. Cotyledonary petioles shorter than the cotyledons. At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blade underside densely clothed in mainly white and hairs, veins on underside with mainly brown hairs, leaf blade upperside sparsely hairy with flat T-shaped hairs, stem densely clothed in mainly brown hairs. Marginal teeth variable in size. Seed germination time 42 days.

Endemic to NEQ, occurring in the Kuranda to Edmonton area, near Cairns. Altitudinal range from 120-630 m. Grows in open forest or on the edges of streams in rainforest on sandy loam from granite alluvium.