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Leaves and fruit. Copyright CSIRO

Flowers. Copyright CSIRO

Leaves and Flowers. Copyright CSIRO

Vine stem bark and vine stem transverse section. Copyright CSIRO

Fruit, side views, cross section and seed. Copyright W. T. Cooper

Fruit, side view, cross section and seed. Copyright W. T. Cooper

10th leaf stage. Copyright CSIRO

Cotyledon stage, hypogeal germination. Copyright CSIRO

Salacia disepala

Family

Celastraceae

Botanical Name

Salacia disepala (C.T.White) Ding Hou

Ding Hou (1964) Blumea 12: 36. Type: ?.

Synonyms

Salacicratea disepala C.T.White, Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland 55: 61(1944), Type: Boonjee, near Malanda, alt. 2,400 feet, common in rain forest, S.T. Blake 15188 (type: flowers), August 1943.

Common name

Lolly vine

Stem

Usually grows as a vine but sometimes flowers and fruits as a shrub. Vine stem diameters to 10 cm recorded. Concentric rings of pink bark included in the wood when viewed in transverse section. A thin yellow or mustard-coloured layer is often visible just under the dead bark.

Leaves

Stipules small and inconspicuous, caducous, triangular, from less than 1 mm long to 1.5 mm long. Leaf blades about 5-20 x 2.5-8.5 cm, petioles about 0.6-1 cm long, grooved or channelled on the upper surface. Lateral veins curving but not forming loops inside the blade margin. Tendrils formed from expanding shoots and leafy twigs.

Flowers

Pedicels about 4-6 mm long. Calyx mucronate at the bud stage, calyptrate, splitting longitudinally into two equal orbicular lobes. Petals about 3 4.2 mm long. Ovules 2 per locule.

Fruit

Fruits globular, about 25-40 mm diam. Seeds globular or hemispherical, about 20 mm diam. Cotyledons completely fused together, radicle very small.

Seedlings

Usually about 6-10 cataphylls produced before the first true leaves. Stipules small and inconspicuous, about 1 mm long, +/- toothed or lobed at the apex. At the tenth leaf stage: cataphylls present among the leaves. Midrib raised on the upper surface of the leaf blade. Lateral veins curving and forming fairly definite loops inside the blade margin. Stipules very small, visible with a lens. Roots orange coloured.

Distribution and Ecology

Endemic to Queensland, occurs in CYP and NEQ. Altitudinal range from near sea level to 750 m. Grows in well developed lowland and upland rain forest on a variety of substrates.