Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants - Online edition

Dinosperma stipitatum (C.T.White & W.D.Francis) T.G.Hartley


Shrub (woody or herbaceous, 1-6 m tall)
Tree
Click/tap on images to enlarge
Flower. © Barry Jago
Flowers and buds. © CSIRO
Leaves and Flowers. © Barry Jago
Dehisced fruits and seeds. © W. T. Cooper
Scale bar 10mm. © CSIRO
10th leaf stage. © CSIRO
Cotyledon stage, epigeal germination. © CSIRO
Family

Hartley, T.G. (1997) Adansonia Ser. 3 19: 192.

Common name

Mountain Turkey Bush; Turkey Bush

Stem

Usually grows into a small tree to 15 m tall, seldom exceeding 30 cm dbh but also flowers and fruits as a shrub.

Leaves

Leaves generally in whorls of three. Leaf blades about 5.5-16 x 1-5 cm, much paler on the underside. Lateral veins forming loops inside the blade margin.

Flowers

Inflorescence not or only slightly exceeding the leaves. Petals puberulent, about 6-7 mm long. Stamens eight, dimorphic, four long and four short. Basal half of the staminal filaments hairy. Disk at the base of the ovary. Style glabrous.

Fruit

Individual fruiting carpels about 10-15 mm long. Seeds shed as the fruits open, seeds not held by any funicle-like organ. Seeds cylindrical or bullet-shaped, about 10-11 x 6 mm, testa smooth, hilum more than half the length of the seed.

Seedlings

Cotyledons much wider than long, about 9-15 x 20-35 mm. Oil dots visible with a lens. At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blade obovate, apex acuminate, base cuneate to attenuate, glabrous, midrib raised on the upper surface; oil dots may be visible to the naked eye; cataphylls may sometimes be produced instead of fully developed leaves. Seed germination time 13 to 15 days.

Distribution and Ecology

Endemic to NEQ. Altitudinal range from near sea level to 900 m. Grows as an understory tree in well developed lowland and upland rain forest.

Synonyms
Melicope stipitata C.T.White & W.D.Francis, Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland 37: 153(1926), Type: Glenallyn, Malanda, North Queensland, H.C. Hayes.
RFK Code
467
Copyright © CSIRO 2020, all rights reserved.