Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants - Online edition

Polyosma hirsuta C.T.White


Shrub (woody or herbaceous, 1-6 m tall)
Tree
Click/tap on images to enlarge
Flowers. © A. Ford & F. Goulter
Leaves and Flowers. © A. Ford & F. Goulter
Fruit, side views, transverse section and seed. © W. T. Cooper
Scale bar 10mm. © CSIRO
Cotyledon stage, epigeal germination. © CSIRO
10th leaf stage. © CSIRO
Family

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

Common name

Hairy Polyosma

Stem

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.

Leaves

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.

Flowers

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.

Fruit

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

Seedlings

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.

Distribution and Ecology

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.

RFK Code
298
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