Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants - Online edition

Phaleria biflora (C.T.White) Herber


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

B.E. Herber (2001) Austrobaileya 6: 96.

Stem

Blaze very fibrous. Blaze odour noticeable but difficult to describe.

Leaves

Twig bark rather strong and fibrous when stripped and emitting a rather unpleasant odour. Leaf blades about 5-8 x 1.6-4 cm.

Flowers

Flowers sessile on a common peduncle. Perianth red outside but cream on the inner surface. Perianth tube (hypanthium) about 10-12 mm long, lobes about 3 mm long, glabrous on the outer surface, but puberulent on the inner surface. Anthers exserted, projecting beyond the perianth tube (hypanthium).

Fruit

Fruits about 12-15 x 7-8 mm. Seeds about 8 x 3.5-6 mm.

Seedlings

Cotyledons obovate, fleshy, without venation. First few pairs of leaves linear. At the tenth leaf stage: leaves ovate, apex acuminate, base cuneate. Seedling glabrous in all parts. Seed germination time 38 days.

Distribution and Ecology

Endemic to NEQ, restricted to the Thornton Peak and Mt Spurgeon-Mt Lewis areas. Altitudinal range from 1000-1200 m. Grows as an understory tree in mountain rain forests often found in stunted rain forest on windswept ridges.

Synonyms
Oreodendron biflorum C.T.White, Contributions from the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University 4: 74(1933), Type: Qld, Mt Alexander, alt. 1200 m., Dec 18, S. F. Kajewski 1499.
RFK Code
747
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