Vitex queenslandica

Family

Lamiaceae

Botanical Name

Vitex queenslandica (Munir) Bramley

Bramley, G.L.C., Forest, F. & De Kok, R.P.J. (2009) Taxon 58(2): 508. Type: ?.

Synonyms

Viticipremna queenslandica Munir, Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens 7(1): 187(1985), Type: B. Hyland 9633, State Forest Reserve 310, Goldsborough L.A., Queensland, Australia, 18.1.1978 (QRS, holotype; AD, QRS, isotypes). Vitex acuminata R.Br., Prod.: 512(1810), Type: Northern Australia, holo: BM?.

Common name

Vitex

Stem

Trunks of large trees fluted and twisted. Yellow or orange layers may be visible in the blaze. Blaze darkens to greenish brown on exposure.

Leaves

Leaflet blades about 6-13 x 3-4 cm. Numerous, small, yellow glands normally visible with a lens on the underside of the leaflets. Stalk of the middle leaflet longer than those of the lateral leaflets.

Flowers

Inflorescence about 15-25 cm long, pedicels densely glandular, about 1.5-3 mm long. Calyx almost truncate or with four short lobes at the 2-lipped apex, glabrous, glandular outside, tube cylindrical, about 1.5-3 x 1.5-2 mm, lobes rounded to shortly acute, up to 0.5 mm long. Corolla 4-lobed at the apex and tubular below, pubescent and glandular outside, glandular-puberulous on the inner surface of the lobes, villous inside the tube and the throat. Tube +/- cylindrical, about twice the length of the calyx, about 4-5 x 2-2.5 mm, lobes about 2-4.5 x 2-5 mm. Stamens included or slightly exserted, attached to the lower half of the corolla tube. Staminal filaments filiform, glabrous in the upper part, villous in the lower half, about 3-4.5 mm long, anther locules +/- free and divaricate towards the base. Ovary globular, glabrous, glandular at the top, 1-1.2 mm diam. Style almost included, glabrous, filiform, about 3-4 mm long, stigma minutely bifid.

Fruit

Fruits globular or ellipsoid, glabrous about 6-10 x 4-8 mm, calyx accrescent, persistent at the base. Seed enclosed in a stone about 6 x 4 mm, seeds about 3.5 x 1 mm. Embryo about 3-3.5 mm long, cotyledons much wider than the radicle.

Seedlings

Cotyledons broadly ovate, 7-8 x 5-6 mm. First pair of leaves toothed. At the tenth leaf stage: leaflets elliptic, apex acute, base cuneate, upper surface clothed in short, pale hairs, undersurface with numerous small yellow glands, margin toothed for almost the entire length of the leaflet blade; petiole, stem and terminal bud clothed in short, pale hairs.

Distribution and Ecology

Endemic to Queensland, occurs in CYP and NEQ. Altitudinal range from near sea level to 800 m. Grows in well developed lowland and upland rain forest on a variety of sites but tends to be more common in drier, more seasonal rain forest.