Melodinus baccellianus (F.Muell.) S.T.Blake

Apocynaceae

Blake, S.T. (1948) Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland 59: 161.

Murpe

Vine stem diameters to 3 cm recorded. Lenticels numerous and conspicuous. A small amount of milky exudate is produced from the pith but not from the bark.

Twigs and petioles produce a milky exudate when cut or broken. Most of the twig exudate is produced from the pith with very little produced by the bark. Leaf blades about 7.5-12 x 3-4.5 cm, petioles about 0.3-0.5 cm long. Usually about 4 finger-like glands (colleters) present on the upper surface of the midrib just prior to its junction with the petiole. Twigs, shoots and the underside of the leaf blades densely clothed in erect hairs which are brown on mature organs but white on young shoots.

Flowers about 7-8 mm diam, subtended by bracts about 1.5 mm long. Calyx tube about 1 mm long, lobes about 3 mm long. Corolla tube hairy on the outer surface, about 7 mm long, lobes about 3 mm long. Corolla lobes overlapping to the left. Pink glands present in the throat of the corolla tube. Staminal filaments about 1-1.5 mm long, anthers orange, about 1.5-2 mm long. Ovary about 2 mm long. Style + stigma about 3.5 mm long. Stigma 2-lobed.

Fruits ellipsoidal, about 6-6.5 x 4-5.5 cm. Seeds numerous, each seed about 9-11 x 5-6 mm. Testa slightly corrugated and intruding slightly into the endosperm. Embryo about 8 mm long, cotyledons about 4 mm long and radicle about 4 mm long, narrower than the cotyledons.

First leaves elliptic to ovate, apex acuminate, base obtuse to cuneate. Leaf blades clothed with hairs on the underside but glabrous on the upper surface. Lateral veins forming definite loops inside the blade margin. At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blade elliptic to obovate, apex acuminate, base obtuse; lateral veins curving sharply just inside the blade margin and forming loops. All parts of the seedling clothed in soft hairs. All parts of the seedling produce a milky exudate(?) Oil dots in the leaf blade visible with a lens when viewed from the upper surface. Numerous glands visible between the petiole bases and the stem. Seed germination time 124 to 289 days.

Endemic to NEQ. Altitudinal range from 700-1100 m. Grows in well developed upland and mountain rain forest.

Melodinus bacellianus (F.Muell.) S.T.Blake, Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland 59: 161(1948). Wrightia baccelliana F.Muell., The Victorian Naturalist 8: 178(1891), Type: Queensland, Russell River, Stephen Johnson; holo: MEL; iso: BRI, K. Melodinus murpe F.M.Bailey, Queensland Department of Agriculture and Stock. Botany Bulletin 10: 23(1895), Type: Russel River. Mr. E.J. Hancock .. Holo: BRI.