Phebalium longifolium S.T.Blake

Blake, S.T. (1959) Proc. Roy. Soc. Queensland 70: 44. Type: Queensland, W of Ingham, near Wallaman Falls, 14 Aug. 1954, S.T. Blake 18809; Holo: BRI.

Phebalium

Usually flowers and fruits as a shrub about 1-4 m tall.

Leaf blades about 2.5-7 x 0.4-1 cm. Twigs, petioles, buds and leaf blade underside completely covered in peltate scales ranging in colour from rusty brown to white. Upper surface of the leaf blade glabrous. Lateral veins scarcely visible on either the upper or lower surfaces of the leaf blade. Oil dots numerous and conspicuous, leaves aromatic when crushed.

Outer surfaces of the calyx and the corolla clothed in brown peltate scales. Calyx about 1 mm long. Corolla about 2.5 mm long. Each anther with a gland at the apex. Carpels five, clothed in brown scales, ovules 2 per carpel.

Fruits about 5-7 mm across, clothed in brown peltate scales. Calyx lobes persistent at the base. Individual carpels about 2.5-3 mm long. Oil dots large giving the fruit a rugose appearance. Endosperm oily.

Cotyledons linear, about 11-12 x 1.5-2 mm. Stem and underside of the first pair of leaves clothed in brown and cream peltate scales. At the tenth leaf stage: stem, petiole and underside of the leaf blade completely covered with white, peltate scales with a scattering of similar brown scales. Upper surface of the leaf blade free of scales but marked by rather conspicuous glands. Midrib depressed on the upper surface. Petiole about 1-2 mm long. Seed germination time 114 days.

Endemic to NEQ. Altitudinal range from 700-1200 m. Usually grows as an understory plant in wet sclerophyll forest but also found on rain forest margins.

Phebalium squamulosum subsp. longifolium (S.T.Blake) Paul G.Wilson, Nuytsia 1: 85 (1971).