Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants - Online edition

Ehretia grahamii Randell


Shrub (woody or herbaceous, 1-6 m tall)
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Leaves and buds [not vouchered]. CC-BY: S. & A. Pearson.
Leaves and flowers [not vouchered]. CC-BY: S. & A. Pearson.
Family

Randell, B.R. (1993), New taxa and combinations in the Boraginaceae. Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens 15(2): 94-95, Fig. 1, Map 1 [tax. nov.]. Type: Pine Mountain, State Forest 79, P.I. Forster 7998 & W.J. MacDonald, 21.iv.1991 (BRI); iso: K, L, MEL, QRS.

Common name

Rough-leaved Koda

Stem

Shrub 1-4 m tall. Young branchlets hairy with short to long spreading hairs, glabrous with age.

Leaves

Leaves simple, alternate, stipules absent. Petiole shallowly channelled on upper surface, 2-5 mm long. Lamina elliptic, oblong or ovate, 1.5-6 cm long, 1-4 cm wide, base obtuse or cuneate, margin dentate, apex obtuse to acute, occasionally emarginate. Midrib and lateral veins depressed on the upper leaf surface. Upper leaf surface scabrous with cystolith-based hairs, lower surface densely hairy with long erect hairs.

Flowers

Inflorescence axillary or terminal on short laterals, flowers bisexual. Flowers 5-merous. Calyx 1.5-3 mm long, shortly fused at base, lobes lanceolate and acute. Corolla 3-4.5 mm long, bell-shaped (campanulate), lobes recurved at apex, white to cream. Stamens 5, exserted, alternating with petals and attached to corolla tube; ovary superior, style with two short branches to 0.2 mm long.

Fruit

Fruits fleshy, globular, about 5-6 mm long, 5-7 mm diam., orange to red when mature, reported in literature as separating into 4 1-seeded nutlets.

Seedlings

Features not available.

Distribution and Ecology

Occurs in CEQ, from southwest of Townsville to Gladstone. Altitudinal range from 0-560 m. Grows in dry rainforest communities.

Natural History & Notes

Differs from other Australian species in that the leaves are unusually small and their upper surfaces have scabrid cystolith based hairs.

Synonyms
Ehretia sp. (N. Gibson 793)
RFK Code
3610
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