Polyosma hirsuta C.T.White

White, C.T. (1918) Queensland Department of Agriculture and Stock. Botany Bulletin 20: 14. Type: Johnstone River, Rev. N. Michael (type).

Hairy Polyosma

Seldom exceeding 30 cm dbh. Fine oak grain in the wood and a corresponding pattern in the inner blaze. Cream stripes in the outer blaze.

Young shoots and leafy twigs clothed in pale yellowish brown hairs. Leaf blades about 6-14 x 2-5 cm. Lateral veins forming loops well inside the blade margin. Teeth usually few in number and appear as though attached as an afterthought.

Calyx sericeous on the outer surface, lobes about 0.5 mm long. Corolla pubescent on the outer surface, about 12 mm long. Staminal filaments about 7-8 mm long. Style about 9-10 mm long, stigma +/- peltate.

Fruits puberulous, globular, ovoid or ellipsoid, about 8-17 x 9-13 mm. Seeds about 10 x 7 mm, apiculate at the apex.

Cotyledons linear, about 8-10 x 1 mm, base sessile. First pair of leaves toothed, hairy on the upper surface. At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blade obovate, apex acute and mucronate, base cuneate to attenuate, margin dentate or serrate, teeth with a fine point at the apex; hairy on the upper surface. Petiole, stem and terminal bud clothed in long pale hairs. Seed germination time 234 to 382 days.

Endemic to NEQ, restricted to the area between Cape Tribulation and Innisfail. Altitudinal range from 200-1200 m. Grows as an understory tree in well developed rain forest on a variety of sites.