Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants - Online edition

Bouchardatia neurococca (F.Muell.) Baill.


Shrub (woody or herbaceous, 1-6 m tall)
Tree
Click/tap on images to enlarge
Flowers. © G. Sankowsky
Leaf and inflorescence [not vouchered]. CC-BY: S. & A. Pearson.
Flower and fruit [not vouchered]. CC-BY: S. & A. Pearson.
Leaves and flowers. © G. Sankowsky
Fruit. © G. Sankowsky
Trunk. © G. Sankowsky
Family

Baillon, H.E. (1870) Adansonia 9: 110

Common name

Union Nut

Stem

Tree to 7 metres; bark grey-brown to dark-brown, smooth with pale lenticels; buds and young stems softly hairy; stems becoming glabrous; stipules absent.

Leaves

Pinnate, opposite, 100 - 200mm; petioles 20 - 50mm; leaflets 3 - 5; lamina narrow-elliptic to oblanceolate, 55 -130mm by 10 - 50mm, firm; apex acute or acuminate; base cuneate, sometimes asymmetric; margins entire; pinnately veined with 13 - 20 main laterals each side of midrib, distinct on upper surface, raised and very prominent below, looping to form distinct marginal veins; minor veins raised and prominent below; upper surface glossy dark-green, glabrous; lower surface paler, yellow-green, softly hairy; domatia small and hairy; oil dots large, distinct but sparse; leaves with unpleasant odour when crushed; lateral petiolules 0 - 5mm; terminal petiolules 5 - 25mm, usually jointed at apex.

Flowers

In terminal or upper axillary panicles, 50 - 100mm long; flowers bisexual, actinomorphic; sepals 4, c. 1mm; petals 4, 3 - 4.5mm, spreading, white; stamens usually 10; gynoecium 4 almost free carpels fused basally; ovaries superior.

Fruit

Dry, 1 or 2 basally fused follicles 6 - 10mm long, transversely ridged, brown; seeds shiny brown, 1 per follicle.

Seedlings

Not available.

Distribution and Ecology

Endemic to Australia, occurs in CEQ and southwards as far as north-eastern New South Wales. Altitudinal range from 45 to 730 m. Grows as a tall shrub or small tree in rain forest and dry rain forests.

Synonyms

Euodia neurococca F.Muell., Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae 1(2): 28 (1858). Type: Brisbane River. Hill & Mueller.

RFK Code

1239

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