Fitzalania heteropetala

Family

Annonaceae

Botanical Name

Fitzalania heteropetala (F.Muell.) F.Muell.

Mueller, F.J.H. von (1864) Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae 4: 34. Type: ?.

Synonyms

Uvaria heteropetala F.Muell., Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae 3: 1(1862), Type: In insulis Cumberland Islands. Eug. Fitzalan.. Saccopetalum bidwillii Benth., Flora Australiensis 1: 53(1863), Type: Queensland. Wide Bay, Bidwill.

Common name

Orange Annona

Stem

Usually grows into a small tree, not exceeding 30 cm dbh, but usually flowers and fruits as a shrub.

Leaves

Leaf blades about 4.5-12 x 2-7.5 cm. Oil dots visible with a lens. Petioles very short. Younger twigs hairy. Twig bark fibrous when stripped. Oak grain in the twigs.

Flowers

Flowers dark maroon to almost black. Sepals triangular, about 5-6 x 3 mm. Petals densely clothed in prostrate hairs. Outer petals about 25-40 mm long. Inner petals about 6-8 mm long. Inner surface of petals dotted with purple glands. Anthers brown, filaments pink. Ovaries 1-5, clothed in simple hairs.

Fruit

Fruiting carpels +/- sessile, about 20-25 x 10-15 mm, densely clothed in simple erect hairs. Seeds about 7 x 5 mm, usually about four per carpel. Embryo minute.

Seedlings

First pair of leaves alternate, simple and ovate. Oil dots visible with a lens. At the tenth leaf stage: leaves elliptic to ovate with a few pale hairs on the upper surface along the midrib; oil dots very small, just visible with a lens.

Distribution and Ecology

Endemic to Queensland, occurs in NEQ and southwards to coastal central Queensland. Altitudinal range from near sea level to 100 m. Grows in drier lowland rain forest and monsoon forest.

Natural History

Food plant for the larval stages of the Green Spotted Triangle and the Pale Green Triangle Butterflies. Sankowsky & Neilsen (2000).