Sarcopteryx montana S.T.Reynolds

Reynolds, S.T. (1984) Austrobaileya 2(3): 55. Type: Cook District: 23.2 km up Mt Lewis Rd, turn off from Mt Molloy-Mossman Rd (16 deg 33 S, 145 deg 17 E), alt 1000 m, 31 Jan 1981, L.W. Jessup.

Seldom exceeding 30 cm dbh. Sapwood surface corrugated.

Leaflets about 4-6 in the compound leaf, each leaflet blade about 3.5-9 x 1.5-4 cm. Midrib raised on the upper surface. Oil dots visible with a lens. Terminal buds and young shoots densely clothed in erect, brown or ginger hairs. Compound leaf rhachis with a median ridge and two grooves on the upper surface. Leafy twigs longitudinally grooved.

Inflorescence about 6-11 cm long, pedicels to about 2 mm long. Calyx lobes ovate, about 2 mm long, densely villous. Petals obovate, about 2-2.5 mm long, each petal with two large, hairy, lobed scales or structures near the base on the inner surface. Stamens eight, staminal filaments hairy, about 3.5-4 mm long, inserted inside the disk.

Fruits not stipitate, broadly obovoid or ellipsoid, triquetrous, winged, fruit including the wings about 15-25 x 15-25 mm. Aril enclosing the basal half of the seed. Seeds about 12-13 x 7 mm. Cotyledons green.

First pair of leaves compound with 2-4 leaflets, terminal leaflet absent. At the tenth leaf stage: leaflets usually 4 per compound leaf, blades +/- elliptic, apex acuminate, base cuneate, often hairy on the upper surface as well as along the midrib; petiole and rhachis of compound leaf and leaflet stalks densely clothed in upright, pale or brown hairs. Leaflet margins occasionally with one or two teeth on each margin. Compound leaf rhachis usually projecting 3-4 mm beyond the point of attachment of the last pair of leaflets. Seed germination time 25 to 188 days.

Endemic to NEQ, restricted to the higher mountains between Thornton Peak and Mt Lewis. Altitudinal range from 950-1300 m. Grows in mountain rain forest.