Lasjia grandis (C.L.Gross & B.Hyland) P.H.Weston & A.R.Mast

Proteaceae

Mast, A.R., Willis, C.L., Jones, E.H., Downs, K.M. & Weston, P.H. (2008) American Journal of Botany 95(7): 865.

Satin Silky Oak; Oak, Satin Silky

Oak grain in the wood and a corresponding pattern in the inner blaze.

Oak grain in the twigs. Leaves in whorls of 3-6. Leaf blades about 8-23 x 2-6 cm. Terminal buds densely clothed in rusty brown hairs. Small, pale lenticels usually conspicuous on the twigs.

Flower bracts curved, about 0.5-0.6 mm long. Flowers paired, but lacking a common peduncle. Tepals sparsely pubescent on the outer surface, about 3-3.5 mm long. Hypogynous glands fused to form a cup (often 4-lobed) surrounding the base of the ovary. Ovary sessile, glabrous. Ovules 2.

Fruits +/- globular, about 5-6 x 5-6 cm. Seed about 4 x 4 cm. Endocarp + testa about 2 mm thick. Pericarp marked by rays of radial fibres in transverse section. The rat-eaten remains of the seed coats normally present beneath mature trees.

First leaves usually in a whorl of three. At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blade linear-obovate, apex acute, base cuneate to obtuse, in whorls of three, upper surface hairy along the midrib. Seed germination time 14 to 22 days.

Endemic to NEQ, known only from a few collections made in the China Camp area and in the Barong and McNamee Logging Areas. Altitudinal range from near sea level to 450 m. Usually grows in well developed lowland rain forest.

Macadamia grandis C.L.Gross & B.Hyland, Australian Systematic Botany 6(4): 347(1993), Type: Queensland, State Forest Reserve 755, Barong LA [Logging Area], Gray 1586, 12 xii 1979, (holo: QRS; iso: NSW).