Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants - Online edition

Drypetes acuminata P.I.Forst.


Tree
Click/tap on images to enlarge
Fruit, three views, cross section and seed. © W. T. Cooper
Scale bar 10mm. © CSIRO
Cotyledon stage, epigeal germination. © CSIRO
10th leaf stage. © CSIRO
Family

Forster, P.I. (1997) Austrobaileya 4: 483. Type: Queensland, Koolmoon Creek, near Tully Falls, Oct 1953, K. J. White, holo: BRI; iso: K, MEL, QRS.

Common name

Boxwood, Grey; Grey Boxwood; Yellow Tulip; Yellow Tulipwood

Stem

Blaze distinctly layered.

Leaves

Leaf blades about 3.5-12 x 1.5-5 cm. Midrib cream, depressed or flush with the upper surface. Lateral veins forming loops well inside the blade margin. Twigs often marked by pale lenticels. Stipules small and inconspicuous. Leaves on coppice shoots prominently toothed.

Flowers

Male flowers: Inflorescences up to 13 mm long. Flowers about 3.2-4.5 mm diam., pedicels about 3.2-5 mm long. Tepals about 2.5-3.5 x 2-3 mm. Stamens 6-9, filaments about 0.3-0.6 mm long, anthers about 1.2-1.5 x 0.8-1.3 mm. Disk reduced to small lobes about 0.5 mm long. Female flowers: Flowers solitary, on pedicels about 9-18 mm long. Disk saucer-shaped. Ovary about 3.5-4 x 3 mm, densely clothed in yellow hairs. Styles reduced, stigmas appressed to the top of the ovary, about 1-1.5 mm long.

Fruit

Fruits globular-ovoid, about 10-26 x 9-15 mm clothed in soft hairs. Seed about 20 x 8-9 mm. Cotyledons ovate, about 11 x 7 mm. Radicle about 3 mm long.

Seedlings

Cotyledons cordate or orbicular, about 20-35 x 12-22 mm, prominently 3-veined at the base, petioles very short. At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blade elliptic or ovate, apex acuminate, base cuneate or obtuse, margin dentate; stipules small, triangular and pubescent. Seed germination time 49 days.

Distribution and Ecology

Endemic to NEQ. Altitudinal range from 500-1150 m. Grows in well developed upland and mountain rain forest on a variety of sites.

Natural History & Notes

Produces a useful general purpose timber.

Wood specific gravity 0.91. Cause et al. (1989).

Synonyms
Drypetes lasiogyna var. australasica (Mull.Arg.) Airy Shaw, Kew Bulletin 35: 628(1980).
RFK Code
281
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