Gossia pubiflora (C.T.White) N.Snow & Guymer.

Myrtaceae

Snow, N. & Guymer, G.P. (2003) Systematic Botany Monographs 65: 38-39.

Shrub or tree 1-6 m tall. Bark rough, flaky, scaly or tessellated, light brown to gray. Branchlets densely hairy.

Leaves opposite, ± decussate. Leaf blade elliptic to ovate, 1.8-5.5 cm long, 0.8-3.3 cm wide, base cuneate to rounded, margin entire, apex acute to acuminate, often mucronate. Oil dots common, faint or visible with magnification. Main intramarginal vein indistinct to prominent about 0.5-3 mm from the blade margin, 7-8 lateral veins.

Inflorescence terminal or axillary, flowers solitary, paired or in threes, sessile or shortly stalked to 2 mm. Hypanthium cup shaped, villous to densely villous, greenish brown. Calyx lobes (4-) 5, triangular, 5-8 mm long, greenish, both surfaces hairy. Petal 5, obovate to oblate or circular, 4-5 mm long, yellowish white, glabrous on inner surface, hairy on outer surface, oil dots few.

Crushed fruit apparently smells of methanol. Fruits globose to subglobose, 9-17 mm long, 11-19 mm wide, calyx lobes persistent or caducous at the apex, glabrescent, red to nearly black. Seeds 1 per fruit, testa hard and bony.

No features available.

Endemic to coastal CEQ around Mt Dryander and Conway National Park. Altitudinal range from 50-200 m. Grows in forests or notophyll vine forest often on slopes.

Diagnostic characters include densely hairy branchlets and flowers, and relatively large fruits compared with other species of Gossia.

Myrtus pubiflora C.T.White, Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland 50:77, (1939). Type: Strathdickie, near Proserpine, Rev. N. Michael, No. 1476 (type: flowering specimens). Holo: BRI. Austromyrtus pubiflora (C.T.White) L.S.Sm. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland, 67:35, (1956).

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