Castanospora alphandii (F.Muell.) F.Muell.

Sapindaceae

Mueller, F.J.H. von (1875) Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae 9: 92.

Brown Tamarind; Native Chestnut; Tamarind, Brown

Sapwood surface often corrugated.

Midrib narrowly grooved or depressed on the upper surface. Leaflet blades about 9-17.5 x 3-6 cm, much paler on the underside. Younger twigs longitudinally grooved or striated. Lateral veins forming loops inside the blade margin. Terminal buds and young shoots clothed in very small, brown hairs.

Calyx cup-shaped, about 2 mm long, 5-lobed. Petals about 2 mm long, pubescent. Stamens eight per flower, filaments densely villous. Ovules 1 per locule.

Fruits +/- peach coloured, finely tomentose. Seeds large, about 17-25 x 20-30 mm, brown.

First pair of leaves pinnate with two or four leaflets. Leaflets pale, almost white on the underside. Lateral vein angle about 80. At the tenth leaf stage: leaflet blades ovate, apex acuminate; undersurface glaucous, pubescent with very short, prostrate hairs. Seed germination time 15 to 31 days.

Endemic to Australia, occurs in NEQ, CEQ and southwards as far as north-eastern New South Wales. Altitudinal range from sea level to 1100 m. Grows in well developed rain forest on a variety of sites.

Fruit eaten by Cassowaries.

A fast growing tree that quickly produces a dense crown. Suitable for parks and larger gardens.

Ratonia alphandi F.Muell., Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae 4: 158(1864), Type: In tractu montano Seaview Range apud sinum litoreum Rockingham Bay. Dallachy. Nephelium callarrie J.F.Bailey, Queensland Agricultural Journal 5(4): 388(1899), Type: Mulgrave River, Bellenden Ker Expedition, 1889. Upper Barron River, J.F. Bailey, June, 1899.