Mitrephora diversifolia (Span.) Miq.

Miquel, F.A.W. (1858) Fl. Ned. Ind. 1(2): 32. Type: Timor, J. Spanoghe. Isolecto: L, MEL. (Fide Jessup (2007).

Flying Duck Flower

Usually grows into a small tree but also flowers and fruits as a shrub. Subrhytidome layer very dark, almost black. Blaze finely layered. Narrow fibrous stripes in the outer blaze.

Leaf blades about 7-18 x 2.5-6 cm. Petioles short, transversely wrinkled. Small oil dots visible with a lens. Fine oak grain in the twigs and expanded rays in the twig bark. Twig bark strong and fibrous when stripped. Terminal buds densely clothed in rusty brown hairs.

Pedicels at flowering 3-6 mm long. Inner petals about 15 mm long, narrow at the base, much smaller than the outer petals, arched and +/- fused at the hairy apices before anthesis. Stamens more than 50. Ovaries about 12.

Fruiting carpels sessile, about 28-32 x 20-25 mm, pubescent on the outer surface. Seeds five or six per carpel, each seed flattened-reniform, about 12 x 7 mm, testa shallowly pitted. Embryo minute.

Cotyledons ovate, about 25-30 x 20-25 mm, hairy along midrib on upper surface. At the tenth leaf stage: leaves ovate to elliptic, upper surface hairy along midrib, lateral veins about 7 or 8 each side of the midrib; petiole, stem and buds densely clothed in brown hairs. Seed germination time 241 to 243 days.

Occurs in CYP, restricted to the Bamaga, Iron Range and McIlwraith Range areas. Altitudinal range from near sea level to 450 m. Grows in well developed gallery forest. Also occurs in Malesia.