Dysoxylum pettigrewianum

Family

Meliaceae

Botanical Name

Dysoxylum pettigrewianum F.M.Bailey

Bailey, F.M. (1892) Queensland Department of Agriculture and Stock. Botany Bulletin 5: 9. Type: Scrubs at the base of Bellenden-Ker Range and the Barron River..

Common name

Spur Mahogany; Spurwood; Cairns Satinwood; Mahogany, Spur

Stem

Subrhytidome layer deep wine red. Blaze odour like incense or guava (Psidium guajava). Lenticels quite large and conspicuous.

Leaves

Compound leaf petiole rather sharply but shortly winged from the base to the first pair of leaflets. Compound leaf petiole swollen at its junction with the twig. Leaflet blades about 8-17 x 3.5-6 cm.

Flowers

Calyx cup-shaped, lobes variable, inconspicuous but obtuse at the apex. Calyx lobes very short. Outer surface of the corolla mainly glabrous, tomentose only towards the apex. Petals about 8-9 mm long. Stamens eight. Disk resembles a short staminal tube. Ovary pubescent.

Fruit

Fruits +/- pyriform, about 40 mm long overall, outer surface scurfy brown. Sarcotesta surface 50% orange or red and 50% white. Cotyledons green.

Seedlings

Long axis of the cotyledons aligned parallel with the stem of the seedling. Venation not discernible. At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blade glabrous except for the midrib on the undersurface; petiole and stem clothed in short, erect, tortuous hairs.

Distribution and Ecology

Occurs in NEQ between Rossville and Tully. Altitudinal range from sea level to 800 m. Grows in well developed lowland and upland rain forest but is more frequent, and reaches its best development, in lowland rain forest particularly on soils derived from basalt. Also occurs in Malesia and the Solomon Islands.

Natural History

Complete seeds with aril are extracted and eaten by Metallic Starlings. Fallen fruit is eaten by Cassowaries. Cooper & Cooper (1994).

Produces a decorative cabinet timber and general purpose timber which was once very popular for boat building.

Wood specific gravity 0.86. Cause et al. (1989).

NEQ

X

Tree

X

RFK Code

78