Casearia costulata Jessup

Jessup, L.W. () Flora of Australia 8: 385. Type: Davies Ck, Qld, L.J. Webb & J. Tracey 6406; holo: BRI; iso: A, CANB, K, L, MEL, MO, NSW, QRS.

Birch

A small tree not exceeding 30 cm dbh.

Oil dots visible with a lens, most oil dots +/- circular but some elongated or streaky. Leaf blades about 7-10 x 2.5-3.5 cm, tending to be somewhat 3-veined. Stipules less than 2 mm long. Domatia are tufts of hair or tufts of hair almost obscuring foveoles. The domatia only occur at the junction of the midrib and the basal pair of lateral veins and do not occur on all leaves. Reticulate veins run +/- at right angles to the midrib.

Perianth lobes about 2-2.2 mm long. Stamens usually ten, five long and five short, long stamens opposite the corolla lobes, staminodes ten, hairy at the apex. Staminal filaments glabrous, sometimes pubescent towards the base.

Fruits 20-25 mm long.

Cotyledons almost orbicular, about 10-12 x 8-10 mm. Oil dots small, reddish. At the tenth leaf stage: teeth are almost absent; stipules small, triangular. Seed germination time 30 to 42 days.

Endemic to NEQ. Altitudinal range from 700-1200 m. Grows in well developed upland and mountain rain forest, frequently on soils derived from granite.