Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants - Online edition

Memecylon pauciflorum Blume


Shrub (woody or herbaceous, 1-6 m tall)
Tree
Click/tap on images to enlarge
Flowers. © CSIRO
Leaves and Flowers. © CSIRO
Leaves and fruit. © A. Ford & F. Goulter
Scale bar 10mm. © CSIRO
10th leaf stage. © CSIRO
Cotyledon stage, epigeal germination. © CSIRO
Family

Blume, C.L. von (1850) Museum Botanicum Lugduno-Batavum 1 : 356. Type: Timor.

Common name

Memecylon

Stem

Seldom exceeding 30 cm dbh.

Leaves

Leaf blades about 3-7 x 1-3 cm. Lateral veins scarcely visible on the upper surface but forming inconspicuous loops or an intramarginal vein very close to the margin. Small oil dots visible with a lens. Stipules absent but scars resembling stipular scars are visible on the twigs between the petioles. Petiole grooved on the upper surface.

Flowers

Inflorescences shorter than the leaves. Flowers small, petals about 2 mm long. Stamens eight, anthers with a long spur at the base and a raised gland on the spur on the opposite side to the filament attachment.

Fruit

Fruits globular or depressed globular, about 6-8 x 8-9 mm diam., calyx persistent at the apex. Seed globular, about 4-5 x 5-6 mm diam. Cotyledons green, crumpled and folded many times.

Seedlings

Cotyledons +/- semiorbicular, 16-20 x 15-30 mm, shortly petiolate. Cotyledonary stipules usually visible. Hypocotyl winged. At the tenth leaf stage: leaves linear, narrowly elliptic or elliptic, glabrous. Stipules usually visible or stipule-like structures visible. Seed germination time 20 to 63 days.

Distribution and Ecology

Occurs in WA, NT, CYP, NEQ, CEQ and southwards to south-eastern Queensland. Altitudinal range from near sea level to 400 m. Grows as an understory tree in monsoon forest, drier or more seasonal rain forest, open forest, woodland and littoral forest. Also occurs in SE Asia and Malesia.

RFK Code
1040
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