Grewia oxyphylla Burret

Malvaceae

Burret, K.E. (1924) Notizblatt des Botanischen Gartens und Museums zu Berlin-Dahlem 9 : 695. Type: Nordaustralien: Port Darwin (FR. SCHULTZ n. 773 bluhend 17. January 1870).

Plum, Blush; Blush Plum

Usually grows as a vine but also flowers and fruits as a shrub about 3-4 m tall. Vine stem diameters to 5 cm recorded. Expanded rays visible in the bark.

Leaf blades ovate, about 5.5-13 x 2-7.5 cm, petioles about 0.5-1.1 cm long, slightly expanded at the apex compared with the base. One or two teeth or glandular lobes usually visible at the base of the leaf blade on each side of the midrib. Stellate hairs usually visible with a lens on the younger twigs, petioles and both the upper and lower surfaces of the leaf blade. Stipules small, narrowly triangular up to 4 mm long, caducous. Twig bark strong and fibrous when stripped. Domatia are tufts of hair. Reticulate veins +/- at right angles to the midrib. Pale-coloured lenticels usually visible on the twigs. Backward pointing branches act as climbing hooks.

Sepals about 15-20 x 1.5-2 mm, green on the outer surface but white or cream on the inner surface, outer surface sparsely clothed in stellate hairs. Petals about 6-7 mm long, inner surface with a glandular structure towards the base and numerous hairs elsewhere. Ovary clothed in long pale hairs.

Fruits about 10-18 x 6-12 mm, outer surface clothed in short stellate hairs and much longer clumped hairs. Fruits wider than long. Seeds about 6-8 x 4-4.5 mm, usually three or four per fruit. Testa thick and hard. Radicle about 1.5 mm long.

Cotyledons ovate or orbicular, about 9-15 x 7-13 mm, petiole about 2-3.5 mm long. First pair of leaves ovate, about 17-22 x 12-14 mm, margin serrate, stipules filiform, about 1-2 mm long. At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blade about 50 x 30 mm, midrib raised on the upper surface of the leaf blade. Leaves sparsely clothed in erect hairs. Petiole about 10 mm long. Stipules 2-4 mm long, persistent. Stem, terminal bud and petiole clothed in a mixture of stellate and simple hairs. Seed germination time 32 to 158 days.

Occurs in WA, NT, CYP, NEQ and CEQ. Altitudinal range from near sea level to 100 m. Grows in beach forest and monsoon forest. Also occurs in Asia and Malesia.

Grewia orientalis var. latifolia Benth., Flora Australiensis 1: 270(1863), Type: Queensland, Port Denison, Fitzalan.