Croton densivestitus C.T.White & W.D.Francis

Euphorbiaceae

White, C.T. & Francis, W.D. (1924) Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland 35: 80. Type: Queensland, Harveys Creek, F.M. Bailey (Bellenden-Ker Expedition of 1889); holo: BRI; iso: MEL.

Can grow into a small tree but usually flowers and fruits as a shrub 1-4 m tall.

Two stalked glands present on the underside of the leaf blade near its junction with the petiole. Leaf blades about 9-14 x 3-5 cm. Stellate hairs present on both the upper and lower surfaces of the leaf blade. Stipules filiform, caducous. Numerous oil dots visible with a lens.

Male flowers: Flowers about 3 mm diam. with a corolla, outer surface of the sepals clothed in stellate hairs. Petals mainly glabrous and longer and narrower than the villous sepals. Inner surface of the petals clothed in long tortuous pale or white hairs. Stamens glabrous but attached to the villous disk. Female flowers: Flowers produced near the base of the inflorescence. Female flowers about 3 mm diam. without a corolla. Styles three, each ending in two stigmas.

Capsules about 8 mm diam., clothed in pale brown stellate hairs. Caruncle small and cream. Aril thin and pale, easily overlooked. Cotyledons cordate-orbicular much wider than the radicle.

Cotyledons 3-5-veined, orbicular, about 14-17 x 13-17 mm, petioles about 1-2 mm long, clothed in stellate hairs. Hypocotyl and stem densely clothed in stellate hairs. First pair of leaves clothed in stellate hairs on the underside but only sparsely hairy on the upper surface. Margins toothed. Stalked green glands visible at the junction of the leaf blade and the petiole. Stipules hairy, about 1 mm long. At the tenth leaf stage: base of the leaf blade cordate with a stalked gland about 3 mm long on either side of the midrib close to its junction with the petiole. Leaf blade margin with about 20-25 small teeth on each side, upper surface clothed in scattered stellate hairs, lower surface densely clothed in white stellate hairs. Stipules linear, about 4-5 mm long, densely clothed in stellate hairs. Numerous oil dots visible with a lens when viewed from the upper surface. Seed germination time 144 days.

Endemic to NEQ. Altitudinal range from near sea level to 400 m. Grows as an understory plant in well developed lowland and upland rain forest.

Croton pubens Domin, Bibliotheca Botanica : 882(1928), Type: Queensland, Harveys Creek, 1909-1910, Domin s.n.; holo: PR.