Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants - Online edition

Flueggea leucopyrus Willd.


Shrub (woody or herbaceous, 1-6 m tall)
Click/tap on images to enlarge
Flowers. © G. Sankowsky
Leaves and flowers. © G. Sankowsky
Leaves and fruits. © CSIRO
Scale bar 10mm. © CSIRO
Cotyledon stage, epigeal germination. © CSIRO
10th leaf stage. © CSIRO
Trunk. © G. Sankowsky
Family

Willdenow, C.L. von (1806) Species Plantarum ed. 4, 4(2) : 757. Type: Habitat in India orientali, D. Klein; holo: B (destroyed?).

Stem

Usually flowers and fruits as a shrub 2-3 m tall.

Leaves

Leaves usually produced on short lateral side shoots from the main twigs. Leaf blades small, about 1-3 x 0.5-1.2 cm +/- tapering gradually into the grooved petiole. Midrib and lateral veins white or cream. Stipules small but persistent. Larger twigs longitudinally grooved or ribbed.

Flowers

Perianth segments about 1 mm long in male and female flowers. Ovary seated on a saucer-shaped gland with irregular margins. Stigmas three, each bilobed.

Fruit

Fruits depressed globular, about 6 mm diam. Tepals persistent at the base of the fruit and styles persistent at the apex. On the concave side of the seed the testa intrudes into the endosperm. Embryo white. Cotyledons much wider than the radicle.

Seedlings

Cotyledons about 5-7 x 2-5 mm. At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blade obovate or orbicular, about 9-10 x 7-8 mm, apex retuse or emarginate. Lateral veins forming loops inside the blade margin. Petiole grooved or channelled on the upper surface. Stipules narrowly triangular, rather small and inconspicuous less than 1 mm long, usually with some reddish brown hairs on the margin. Seed germination time 19 to 240 days.

Distribution and Ecology

Occurs in NEQ, CEQ and southwards as far as south eastern Queensland. Altitudinal range from near sea level to 800 m. Grows in open forest but more common in vine thickets and monsoon forest. Also occurs in southern India and Sri Lanka.

Synonyms
Securinega leucopyrus (Willd.) Mull.Arg., Prodromus 15(2.: 451(1866). Securinega virosa var. australiana Baill., Adansonia 6: 334(1866), Type: Syn: Queensland: Gilbert Riv., F. Mueller; P, MEL; Bowen Riv., Bowman 246; P, MEL; no loc., Dallachy 117; P, MEL; Rockhampton, Thozet 29; P,MEL.
RFK Code
3078
Copyright © CSIRO 2020, all rights reserved.