Bubbia queenslandiana subsp. australis Vink

Vink, W. (1983) Blumea 28: 322. Type: Queensland. .. S.F.R. 310, W. side Mt. Bartle Frere, K.J.White QF 52/235 (type, BRI).

Winterwood; Australian Pepper tree

Usually grows into a small tree but also flowers and fruits as a shrub about 5-6 m tall.

Twigs, leaves and petioles glabrous. Leaves crowded at the ends of the twigs and branches. Leaf blades +/- oblanceolate, about 7-16 x 2-4 cm, glabrous, almost white on the underside, petioles about 2-3 cm long. Oil dots visible with a lens at least from the upper surface. Leaves somewhat aromatic (?) when crushed. Lateral veins difficult to discern but forming loops or an intramarginal vein just inside the blade margin.

Inflorescence up to 3 cm long, shorter than the leaves. Calyx lobes variable in size and shape, about 1-2 mm long. Petals about 4-5 mm long. Stamens about 8-13, anthers sessile or on short swollen filaments. Ovaries about 25. Stigma linear, sessile. Ovules about 10 per ovary.

Fruits (fruiting carpels) globular, about 12 x 6 mm, aromatic when crushed emitting a piney odour. Seeds about 4.5 x 2.5 mm. Embryo small, about 0.3-0.5 mm long. Cotyledons no wider than the radicle.

Cotyledons orbicular, about 8-9 mm diam., white on the underside. First pair of leaves produced just above the cotyledons, white on the underside. At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blade obovate, apex acute, base cuneate to attenuate, midrib depressed on the upper surface; lateral veins forming loops inside the blade margin; underside of the leaf blade completely white except for the midrib. Seedling completely glabrous. Numerous opaque glands visible with a lens on the underside of the leaf blade. Seed germination time 160 to 199 days.

Endemic to NEQ, known only from collections made on the lower western slopes of Mt Bartle Frere. Altitudinal range not known but most collections made between 600-700 m. Grows as an understory plant in undisturbed upland rain forest.