Diploglottis australis
Content
Description
Tree up to 12 m high, dbh up to 35 cm.
Leaves:
Inflorescences up to 30 cm long;
Sepals ovate, 1.2-2 by 0.6-1.5 mm, outside densely, inside sparsely hairy.
Petals 4 or -5, spathulate, L2-2 by 0.8-1.3 mm, distinctly clawed;
Stamens 8;
Fruits:
Seeds 1-1.25 cm diam., thin-lenticular, brown;
Distribution
Asia-Tropical, Morobe Province present, NE Australia present, Northern present, Papua New Guinea present
NE Australia and Malesia: Papua New Guinea (Northern and Morobe Provinces).
Uses
In Australia, the aril is used for making jam and juices; the timber is considered suitable for general indoor work.
Notes
1. In the discussion about the nomenclature of the present species I follow Harden & Johnson (1986); for a different opinion see Reynolds (1981). Whether Don's concise description, apparently based upon a seedling of which no herbarium specimen seems to exist, really refers to the present species may remain uncertain forever. Harden & Johnson's arguments seem rather convincing, however.
2. Vegetatively, D. australis strongly resembles Euphorianthus euneurus Leenh. from the same area in Malesia. The latter differs in the following characters: twigs grooved, not conspicuously lenticellate; petiole sharply semiterete with a narrow central groove; veinlets less densely scalariform, 2-3 mm apart instead of 0.75-1.5 mm.
2. Vegetatively, D. australis strongly resembles Euphorianthus euneurus Leenh. from the same area in Malesia. The latter differs in the following characters: twigs grooved, not conspicuously lenticellate; petiole sharply semiterete with a narrow central groove; veinlets less densely scalariform, 2-3 mm apart instead of 0.75-1.5 mm.
Citation
Stanley & E.M. Ross 1983: p. 515. – In: Fl. SE Queensl.: f. 79p
F.M. Bailey 1985: 38, 199. – In: FL Austral.: f. 8, map 44
S.T. Reynolds 1981 – In: Austrobaileya: 397
S.T. Reynolds 1985: p. 37. – In: Fl. Austral.: map 43
KM. Bailey 1899 – In: Queensl. FL: 287
Harden & Johnson 1986 – In: Telopea: 745
S.T. Reynolds 1981: p. 396. – In: Austrobaileya: f. 25b
Radlk. 1933 – In: Engl, Pflanzenr. 98: 1225
F.M. Bailey 1987 – In: Austrobaileya: 330