Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants - Online edition

Auranticarpa rhombifolia (A.Cunn. ex Hook.) L.Cayzer, Crisp & I.Telford


Tree
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Flowers. CC-BY: APII, ANBG.
Fruit. CC-BY: APII, ANBG.
Habit. CC-BY: APII, ANBG.
Family

Cayzer, L.W., Crisp, M.D. & Telford, I.R.H. (2000) Aust. Syst. Bot. 13(6): 907-909.

Common name

Diamond leaf Laurel; Hollywood; Queensland Pittosporum; White Holly

Stem

Tree up to 25 metres. Bark pale grey, fissured, more or less corky.

Leaves

Alternate, commonly clustered in pseudo-whorls behind terminal bud, without stipules; petioles short, 5-15 mm. Blades obovate to elliptic, coarsely toothed in distal half or entire, glabrous, 5-12 cm long, 3-5 cm wide; pinnately veined with 11-15 pairs of secondary veins each side of midvein; secondary veins distinct to raised on both surfaces; apex acuminate, blunt; base markedly attenuate.

Flowers

In axillary corymbs or panicles; strongly fragrant; sepals 5, free, cream to white, 1-2 mm long; petals 5, free, much longer than sepals, white to cream, 5-6 mm long; stamens 5, free; anthers 2-3 mm long, dorsifixed on filaments that taper from a broad base; gynoecium superior and borne on a prominent gynophore; locules 2 (3).

Fruit

An obovoid, yellow-orange capsule, opening to release one or more black seeds that are not embedded in a sticky matrix; locules 2 (or 3); placentation axile.

Seedlings

Seed germination time ca. 84 days. Cotyledons ovate or lanceolate, about 15-22 x 4-8 mm. First pair of leaves alternate, rhomboid or obovate, lobed or coarsely toothed towards the apex. Tenth leaf stage not available but probably: leaf blade margin toothed. Stem and petiole clothed in erect glandular hairs.

Distribution and Ecology

Endemic to Australia. Occurs in CEQ and southwards to north-eastern New South Wales. Altitudinal range from near sea level to 950 m. Grows in rainforest, semi deciduous vine thickets, and also open forests and woodlands.

Synonyms

Pittosporum rhombifolium A.Cunn. ex Hook.Icones Plantarum 7: t. 621 (1844). Type: A tree 60-80 ft high in shaded woods on the banks of the Brisbane River, Moreton Bay, Allan Cunningham 29 (holo: K; iso: BRI).

RFK Code

1214

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