Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants - Online edition

Gardenia psidioides Puttock


Herb (herbaceous or woody, under 1 m tall)
Shrub (woody or herbaceous, 1-6 m tall)
Click/tap on images to enlarge
Flower [not vouchered]. © G. Sankowsky
Leaves [not vouchered]. © G. Sankowsky
Scale bar 10mm. © CSIRO
Family

Puttock, C.F. (1988) Austrobaileya 2(5): 440. Type: Queensland, 36.4 km E of Moreton Telegraph Station, 12 27 S, 142 54 E, 21 Jul. 984, Puttock UNSW16953 & King; holo: BRI; iso: K, NSW, MEL, QRS.

Common name

Hann Gardenia; Gardenia, Hann

Stem

Usually flowers and fruits as a shrub about 1 m tall.

Leaves

Stipules about 12-25 mm long, resinous, completely encircling the twigs. Leaves somewhat scabrous on the upper surface. Leaf blades about 3.5-13 x 1.5-5 cm. Petioles about 0.2-0.9 cm long. Lateral veins straight and parallel.

Flowers

Calyx cylindrical, tube (hypanthium) about 3-5 mm long, keeled on the back, lobes linear, about 2-15 mm long. Corolla tube cylindrical, about 15-17 mm long, lobes about 16-30 mm long. Anthers about 7-8 mm long; anthers included in the corolla tube.

Fruit

Fruit elongate-ellipsoid, about 40-50 x 14-20 mm, hexagonal in transverse section. Calyx lobes usually persistent at the apex. Seeds about 2.1-3.8 mm diam. Cotyledons ovate or elliptic, slightly wider than the radicle.

Seedlings

Features not available.

Distribution and Ecology

Endemic to CYP, known only from the Hann Creek area east of Moreton Telegraph Station and the Olive River to Temple Bay area. Altitudinal range quite small, from 50-150 m. Grows as an understory plant in monsoon forest and vine thickets, occasionally in open eucalypt forest.

Natural History & Notes

A very useful plant in horticulture, producing white flowers, as an upright or prostrate shrub. Prostrate forms make an excellent ground cover.

RFK Code
3369
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