Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants - Online edition

Mesua larnachiana (F.Muell.) Kosterm.


Shrub (woody or herbaceous, 1-6 m tall)
Tree
Click/tap on images to enlarge
Flowers [not vouchered]. © G. Sankowsky
Flower buds [not vouchered]. © G. Sankowsky
Leaves amd fruit. © CSIRO
Leaves [not vouchered]. © G. Sankowsky
Scale bar 10mm. © CSIRO
Family

Kostermans, A.G.J.H. (1965) Reinwardtia 7 : 427.

Stem

A small tree seldom exceeding 30 cm dbh but also flowers and fruits when much smaller.

Leaves

Leaf blades about 15-24 x 5.5-8 cm. Leaves have comparatively short, swollen, often scaly petioles. Lateral veins forming loops inside the blade margin. Midrib slightly raised on the upper surface. Scaly bark often present on the leafy twigs.

Flowers

Inflorescences about 3-5-flowered, shorter than the leaves. Staminal filaments about 6 mm long, anthers about 0.4-0.6 mm long, anther thecae C-shaped. Anther connective terminating in a gland.

Fruit

Fruits obovoid, enclosed in the persistent sepals, fruit + sepals about 20 x 26 mm. Cotyledons fused together.

Seedlings

Features not available.

Distribution and Ecology

Endemic to NEQ, restricted to a small area between Cape Tribulation and Mossman. Altitudinal range from sea level to about 100 m. Grows in well developed lowland rain forest.

Synonyms
Kayea larnachiana F.Muell., The Victorian Naturalist 3: 126(1887), Type: On the Mossman-River; W. Sayer.
RFK Code
560
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