Glochidion sessiliflorum var. sessiliflorum

Family

Phyllanthaceae

Botanical Name

Glochidion sessiliflorum Airy Shaw var. sessiliflorum

Airy Shaw, H.K. (1980) Kew Bulletin 35: 640. Type: ?.

Synonyms

Glochidion sessiliflorum Airy Shaw, Kew Bulletin 31: 350(1976), Type: Qld, Claudie River, lat. 12 deg 45 S., long. 143 deg 15 E., rain forest, alt. 75 m, 16 Oct. 1974, Hyland 7805; holo: K..

Common name

Sessile Buttonwood; Pin Flower Tree; Buttonwood

Stem

Sometimes flowering and fruiting when no more than a shrub. Dead bark layered.

Leaves

Stipules triangular, about 1.5 mm long. Leaf blades about 5.5-14 x 2.5-5.5 cm. Midrib slightly raised on the upper surface. Leaf bearing twigs mainly glabrous.

Flowers

Male flowers: Inflorescence without a peduncle and strictly axillary. Flowers about 3 mm diam. without a disk. Female flowers: Flowers about 1.5-2 mm diam., +/- sessile. Style +/- columnar, exserted at flowering.

Fruit

Capsules about 14-lobed, concave at the apex, about 15 mm diam., resembling a miniature Queensland Blue pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo). Cotyledons cupped, much wider than the radicle.

Seedlings

Cotyledons about 12-13 x 8-9 mm. Hypocotyl hairy. First pair of leaves with stipules about 1 mm long. At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blade obovate, apex shortly acuminate or mucronate, base cuneate, glabrous, veins 6-9 forming loops inside the leaf blade margin. Stipules shortly triangular. Leaves are often produced on shoots which resemble pinnate leaves.

Distribution and Ecology

Endemic to CYP, restricted to the Claudie River and McIlwraith Range areas. Altitudinal range from near sea level to 450 m. Grows in or on the margins of well developed rain forest.