Macaranga involucrata var. mallotoides

Family

Euphorbiaceae

Botanical Name

Macaranga involucrata var. mallotoides (F.Muell.) L.M.Perry

Perry, L.M. (1953) Journal of the Arnold Arboretum 34: 223. Type: ?.

Synonyms

Tanarius involucrata Kuntze, Revisio Generum Plantarum 2: 620(1891), Type: ?. Macaranga involucrata Mull.Arg., Prodromus 15(2.: 1011(1866), Type: ?. Macaranga mallotoides F.Muell., Fragm. 4: 139(1864), Type: Queensland, Mt Elliot, Fitzalan. Macaranga asterolasia F.Muell., Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae 4: 140(1864), Type: specimina ad montem Elliot reperta.

Common name

Brown Macaranga; MACARANGA

Stem

Seldom exceeding 30 cm dbh.

Leaves

Young shoots and younger leaf bearing twigs clothed in short pale hairs. Numerous small yellow dots or glands visible with a lens or the naked eye on the underside of the leaf blade on fresh leaves. (The colour of these glands changes to red or red-brown on herbarium material more than five years old). Two or four flat glands generally visible on the upper surface of the leaf blade close to its junction with the petiole. Leaf blades about 6-14 x 5.5-9 cm, usually hairy on the upper surface, at least on the midrib and main lateral veins.

Flowers

Floral bracts large, with toothed or lobed margins. Outer surface of the tepals densely clothed in hairs and yellowish glands. Female flowers about 1.5-2 m diam. Ovary covered with yellowish glands and hairy trichomes or bristles.

Fruit

Capsules muricate. Surface of the fruit covered with hairy bristles and yellowish glands. Seeds globular, about 4-5 mm diam.

Seedlings

Cotyledons +/- orbicular, about 7-12 mm diam., hairy on the upper surface. Streaky oil dots just visible with a lens. At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blade trilobed, sometimes deeply trilobed, apex acuminate, base cordate, hairy on the upper surface, densely hairy on the undersurface with numerous yellow glands which age to red or reddish brown on herbarium specimens; stipules linear, hairy.

Distribution and Ecology

Endemic to Australia, occurs in NT, CYP, NEQ and southwards as far as coastal central Queensland. Altitudinal range from near sea level to 700 m. Favoured by disturbance, grows in gaps in well developed rain forest and on the margins of rain forest.