Hydrocotyle miranda A.R.Bean & Henwood

Bean, A.R. & Henwood, M.J. (2003) Austrobaileya 6(3): 539-541. Type: Queensland. Cook District: Longlands Gap State Forest, S of Atherton, 21 April 2002, A.R. Bean 18786 (holo: BRI; iso: CANB, K, L, MEL, NSW).

Pennywort

Stems hairy, creeping and rooting at the nodes.

Petioles hairy, erect, 40-200 x 2.5-3 mm, attached to a creeping rhizome. Leaf blades shiny, 30-70 mm diam., clothed in hairs on both tsurfaces. Veins 7-9 radiating from the base. Stipules 6-7 x 6 mm.

Flowers borne in a dense raceme of heads or umbels. Pedicels 2.5-3 mm long. Calyx absent. Male and female flowers in each head. Male flowers: Petals usually 5, 0.8-1 mm long. Anthers 0-0.3 mm long. Female flowers: Petals 1-3-4. Each petal 0.8-1.3 mm long. Ovary laterally compressed, 0.8-1 mm long. Ovules one per locule. Stigmas two.

Fruit a schizocarp made up of laterally flattened mericarps 1.4-1.7 x 0.7-0.8 mm with smooth surfaces having prominent dorsal ribs forming a narrow wing. Styles persistent, divergent. Seeds covered with a gelatinous layer.

Features not available.

Queensland endemic, occurs in NEQ from Atherton in the north to Tully Falls in the south. Altitudinal range 870-1175 m. Inhabits rainforest clearings and rainforest margins growing on clay-loam soils derived from basalt.