Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants - Online edition

Argyrodendron trifoliolatum F.Muell.


Tree
Click/tap on images to enlarge
Flowers. © CSIRO
Leaves and Flowers. © CSIRO
Habit, flower, fruit, lepidote scale, seedling. © CSIRO
Scale bar 10mm. © CSIRO
10th leaf stage. © CSIRO
Cotyledon stage, epigeal germination. © CSIRO
Family

Mueller, F.J.H. von (1858) Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae 1: 2. Type: Ad flumina Brisbane et Pine River, W. Hill. F. Mueller.

Common name

Brown Booyong; Brown Crowsfoot; Brown Crowsfoot Elm; Brown Oak; Crowsfoot Elm; Hickory; Highroot; Ironwood; Oak, Brown; Red Booyong; White Booyong; Stonewood; Silky Elm; Stavewood; Silver Tree; Oak, Brown Tulip; Black Stavewood; Brown Tulip Oak; Booyong

Stem

Outer blaze with pink, fibrous and white or cream, granular stripes. Blaze layering rather fine.

Leaves

Leaflet blades about 8-14.5 x 2.3-6 cm. Midrib raised on the upper surface of the leaflet blade. Lower surface of the leaflet blade covered with brown scales. Twig bark strong and fibrous when stripped. About 10-20 main lateral veins on each side of the midrib.

Flowers

Outer surface of the flower buds clothed in dark brown, stellate scales. Flowers about 13-15 mm diam. Inner surface of the perianth tube tuberculate, but mainly free of stellate hairs and scales. Anthers about 15 per flower.

Fruit

Basal, i.e. globular part of the fruiting carpel +/- smooth, clothed in dark brown scales. Fruiting carpel + wing about 3.5-5 cm long.

Seedlings

Cotyledons fleshy, about 5-6 x 5-6 mm, venation not visible. First pair of leaves lanceolate, lower surface brown from scales. At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blade glabrous and midrib raised on the upper surface, lower surface brown from scales; stipules large, linear-lanceolate, clothed in scales. Seed germination time 16 to 314 days.

Distribution and Ecology

Occurs in NEQ, CEQ and southwards as far as north eastern New South Wales. (The form referring to this species name in this publication may be endemic to NEQ). Altitudinal range from 50-800 m. Grows in well developed rain forest on a variety of sites but probably reaches its best development on upland sites on deep red soils derived from basalt.

Natural History & Notes

Before the development of fibreglass and carbon fibre, the timber of this species was sometimes used in the manufacture of fishing rods. Swain (1928).

Produces a useful general purpose timber suitable for house construction in places not exposed to the weather.

Wood specific gravity 0.92 Cause et al. (1989).

Synonyms
Argyrodendron trifoliolatum F.Muell. var. trifoliolatum, Tropical Woods 51 : 19(1937). Heritiera trifoliolata (F.Muell.) Kosterm., Monograph of the Genus Heritiera : 65(1959). Tarrietia argyrodendron var. trifoliolata (F.Muell.) F.M.Bailey, The Queensland Flora 1: 140(1899). Tarrietia trifoliolata (F.Muell.) F.Muell., Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae 9: 43(1875). Tarrietia trifoliolata (F.Muell.) F.Muell. var. trifoliolata, Occasional Papers on the Queensland Flora 1: 1(1886).
RFK Code
98
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