Garuga floribunda Decne. var. floribunda

Leenhouts, P.W. (1858) Flora Malesiana Series I 5: 215.

Garuga

Exudate slow and meagre. Blaze finely layered and sticky. Deciduous; leafless for a period between August and November.

Leaflet stalks short (about 2 mm). Midrib raised on the upper surface of the leaflet blade. Leaflet blades about 5-10 x 3-5 cm. Stipules leaf-like, up to 5 mm long, but not persistent.

Flowers about 5 mm diam. Calyx lobes about 1 mm long. Corolla lobes about 2 mm long. Receptacle (hypanthium) cup-shaped, about 2.5 mm long, inner surface disciform. Staminal filaments attached to the apex of the receptacle. Ovary shortly stalked. Ovary and style clothed in long erect hairs, at right angles to the axis. Stigma green, 5-lobed.

Fruits depressed globular, often laterally compressed, about 10-15 x 11-17 mm. Seeds angular, testa rugose or muricate. Cotyledons compound, twisted and folded.

Cotyledons about 19-22 mm long, trifoliolate with lateral leaflets deeply lobed, petiole with a few pale hairs. First leaves or leaflets with toothed margins. At the tenth leaf stage: leaflets ovate, apex acuminate, margin serrate, upper surface with a few pale hairs, petiole and rhachis hairy; stipules linear, hairy, about 2-3 mm long. Taproot swollen, carrot-like (Daucus carota). Terminal leaflet larger than the lateral leaflets. Seed germination time 28 to 193 days.

Widespread in WA, CYP and NEQ about as far south as Townsville. Altitudinal range from sea level to about 400 m. Not yet reported from NT where its occurrence is to be expected. Usually grows in monsoon forest and drier rain forest. Also occurs in Malesia and perhaps extending into SE Asia.

Garuga floribunda Decne., Nouvelles Annales du Museum d'Histoire Naturelle 3 : 477 (1834), Type: Timor, collector unknown; holo: G; iso: NY. Fide Kalkman, Blumea 7: 463 (1953).