Gossia lucida (Banks ex Gaertn.) N.Snow & Guymer

Myrtaceae

Snow, N. & Guymer, G.P. (2003) Systematic Botany Monographs 65: 70.

Lignum

A small tree not exceeding 30 cm dbh. Bark smooth, reddish brown. Outer blaze +/- green.

Oil dots pale brown, numerous and closely spaced. Midrib raised on the upper surface. Leaf blades about 5.5-8 x 3-4.5 cm.

Inflorescence usually a 3-flowered cyme or umbel on a very short (1-1.5 mm long) peduncle. Flowers about 14-16 mm diam. Hypanthium about 2 mm long, apex usually reddish. Calyx lobes pubescent adaxially, about 1.8 mm long. Petals about 6-6.5 mm long, glabrous except for the margins, oil dots green-yellow, about 30-40 per petals, visible only from the lower side. Stamens about 70. Innermost filaments only about 3-5 mm long, other filaments longer. Anthers with a single orange coloured gland at the apex. Ovules 6 or 7 per locule. Style about 5 mm long, often bent or twisted near the apex.

Fruits depressed globular, about 9 mm diam., calyx lobes persistent at the apex. Testa membranous. Embryo coiled with the cotyledons +/- in the middle of the spiral. Cotyledons much more slender than the radicle.

Cotyledons very small, narrowly elliptic to linear, about 3-5 x 1 mm; oil dots very small, just visible with a lens, more numerous about the margin. Stipules very small. Stem below cotyledons (hypocotyl) thickened. At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blade +/- ovate, apex and base obtuse; oil dots visible with a lens, shortly petiolate, glabrous. Stipules small and inconspicuous. Seed germination time 13 to 38 days.

Endemic to Queensland, occurs in CYP and NEQ. Altitudinal range from sea level to 150 m. Grows as an understory tree in gallery forest.

Austromyrtus sp. (Annan River BH 25539RFK), : (). Myrtus nitida J.F. Gmelin, Syst. veg. 2: 792(1791). Austromyrtus lucida (Banks ex Gaertner) L.S. Smith, Proceedings Royal Society Queensland 67: 35(1956). Syzygium lucidum Banks ex Gaertner, De fructibus et seminibus plantarum 1: 167(1788), Type: Australia, New Holland, 1770, Banks & Solander s.n.; Holo: K. Myrtus monosperma F. Mueller, Victorian Naturalist 9: 9(1892), Type: Qld, Endeavour River, W.A. Persieh s.n.; Holo: MEL; Iso: BM, BRI, MEL.