Lindsayomyrtus racemoides (Greves) Craven

Myrtaceae

Craven, L.A. (1990) Australian Systematic Botany 3(4): 731.

Penda, Daintree; Daintree Penda

Sections of bark included in the wood.

Lateral veins forming loops well inside the blade margin. Oil dots visible with a lens. Young leaves and shoots purple. Leaf blades about 9-24 x 3-7.5 cm. Midrib raised on the upper surface.

Calyx lobes rounded but rather indistinct. Petals variable in shape, quite large, about 8-10 mm long. Anthers +/- bilobed with a conspicuous gland in the emarginate apex.

Fruits very variable, 3-lobed when perfectly developed, but frequently reduced to a two or 1-lobed condition. Calyx persistent at the base but insignificant. Fruits up to 20 x 30 mm. Seeds variable, often about 15-20 x 10-15 mm, testa thin and membranous. Cotyledons marked by oil glands.

Cotyledons +/- orbicular, about 10-17 x 20-24 mm, thick and fleshy, without venation. Usually 2 cataphylls just above the cotyledons. First true leaves elliptical, midrib raised on the upper surface. At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blade elliptic to obovate, apex acuminate, base cuneate, glabrous, veins about 15-25 each side of the midrib, midrib depressed on the upper surface; new growth dark bluish purple. Seed germination time 7 to 32 days.

Occurs in NEQ, restricted to the area between Cooktown and Innisfail. Altitudinal range from sea level to 200 m. Grows in well developed lowland rain forest often in close proximity to watercourses. Also occurs in the Moluccas, New Guinea and New Britain.

This tree has potential in horticulture at least in the tropics. The new growth flushes are deep purple and the profusion of flowers are cream with prominent yellow stamens.

Eugenia racemoides Greves, Journal of Botany (Suppl.) 61: 20(1923), Type: Forbes 707, holo: BM; iso: L. Lindsayomyrtus brachyandrus (C.T.White) B.Hyland & Steenis, Blumea 21: 190(1974). Xanthostemon brachyandrus C.T.White, Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland 53: 219(1942), Type: Harvey Creek, F.R. Morris (type: flowering specimens), 19th Nov., 1939 (tree 40 ft., flowers white, fragrant).