Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants - Online edition

Lepiderema ixiocarpa S.T.Reynolds


Herb (herbaceous or woody, under 1 m tall)
Shrub (woody or herbaceous, 1-6 m tall)
Click/tap on images to enlarge
Flowers [not vouchered]. © G. Sankowsky
Flowers. © CSIRO
Leaves and Flowers. © CSIRO
Scale bar 10mm. © CSIRO
Cotyledon stage, hypogeal germination. © CSIRO
10th leaf stage. © CSIRO
Family

Reynolds, S.T. (1981) Austrobaileya 1(3): 492. Type: Queensland, S.F.R. 251, Ismailia, 17 Jun 1954, Volck 761; holo: BRI; iso: QRS.

Common name

Sticky Lepiderema

Stem

Occasionally grows into a small tree but usually flowers and fruits as a shrub.

Leaves

Terminal buds and young shoots +/- glabrous. Leaflet blades about 3.5-7 x 1-3 cm, margins sometimes toothed with up to four teeth on each side, leaflet stalks about 0.3-0.7 cm long. Lateral veins forming loops inside the blade margin. Leaflet stalks channelled on the upper surface with a ridge down the middle. Compound leaf petiole swollen at its junction with the twig.

Flowers

Panicles about 6.5-29 cm long. Calyx lobes 1.5-3.5 mm long, petaloid but darker in colour. Petals about 2.5 mm long. Stamens eight, anther base sagittate. Staminal filaments about 2-3 mm long, hairy particularly towards the base where the hairs are longer.

Fruit

Fruits viscid, broadly obovoid, about 10-25 x 13-17 mm, calyx lobes persistent at the base. Aril bright yellow. Seeds about 12 x 7 mm, testa black and shiny. Radicle straight, about 7 mm long +/- tangential to the cotyledons.

Seedlings

First pair of true leaves compound with about 6-11 toothed or lobed leaflets. Compound leaf rhachis winged. At the tenth leaf stage: leaflet blades ovate, margins serrate. Young leaves and shoots marked with orbicular or +/- spherical, dark brown or reddish brown resin or oil glands. Seed germination time 17 days.

Distribution and Ecology

Endemic to NEQ. Altitudinal range from 800-1100 m. Grows as an understory plant in well developed, undisturbed upland and mountain rain forest.

RFK Code
3203
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