Commersonia macrostipulata Guymer

Guymer, G. (2006) Austrobaileya 7(2): 367. Type: Queensland. Cook Distruct: Rex Range, bottom lookout, 2.6 km by road N of Nine Mile Store, Julatten-Mossman road, 19 November 2005, D. Halford Q8843 & R. Jensen (holo: BRI; iso: BRI, K, MEL, NSW).

Fibrous stripes in the blaze.

Twig bark strong and fibrous when stripped. Stellate hairs visible on the leaves and twigs with the aid of a lens. Leaf blades about 9-19 x 4-11 cm, densely clothed in pale or almost white hairs on the underside; margins slightly serrate. Stipules ovate to ovate-lanceolate, entre or serrate, minutely hairy when viewed with a lens.

Flowers about 5-6.5 mm diam. in large panicles. Calyx and corolla stellate hairy throughout. Staminodes petaloid, stellate hairy, inflexed and covering the ovary in the bud, but reflexed to expose the ovary at anthesis. Each staminal filament with a bilobed gland at the base, each lobe long, subulate and hairy.

Capsule about 20-30 mm diam., completely covered with long, stellate, hairy bristles, each bristle 5 mm or more long. Seeds about 1.5-2 x 1-1.5 mm, funicle (aril?) yellow or orange.

Cotyledons elliptic, about 6-9 x 5-7 mm undersurface clothed in short, pale hairs towards the base, visible only with a lens, hairs on the upper surface visible with a lens, numerous hairs along the margin. At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blade cordate with straight and stellate hairs on both the upper and lower surfaces; stipules linear, hairy.

Endemic to NEQ, from north of Cooktown south to Tully, from near sea-level to 800 m alt. It occurs in or on the margins of a variety of rainforests.