| Alyxia spicata | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Alyxia spicata with unripe fruit at Kewarra Beach, Queensland | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Gentianales |
| Family: | Apocynaceae |
| Genus: | Alyxia |
| Species: | A. spicata |
| Binomial name | |
| Alyxia spicata | |
Alyxia spicata, commonly known as chain fruit, is a sprawling shrub or vine in the family Apocynaceae. It is native to New Guinea and the Australian tropics. [2]
Plants may grow up to 4 metres (13 ft) high and have leaves in whorls of 4 on vertically growing shoots and whorls of 3 on horizontal shoots. [2] Flowers usually have an orange tube with cream lobes and are 3 to 4 mm (0.12 to 0.16 in) in diameter with a hairy calyx. Fruits transition through yellow and orange and ultimately black upon ripening. These are around 10 mm (0.39 in) in diameter and may be joined like beads on a string. [2]
The species was formally described in 1810 by Scottish botanist Robert Brown in Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae , based on a specimen collected at Vanderlin Island in the Gulf of Carpentaria. [1] Plant material had earlier been collected at Cape Grafton and the Endeavour River during Lieutenant James Cook's first voyage of discovery in 1770 and illustrated by Sydney Parkinson. [3] [4] An illustration of the species was published in 1900 with the name Gynopogon spicatum in Illustrations of the Botany of Captain Cook's Voyage Round the World in H.M.S. "Endeavour" in 1768-71. [5]
Alyxia spicata occurs naturally in rainforest, beach forest, vine thickets and on cliffs in New Guinea, the northernmost parts of Western Australia and the Northern Territory as well as north-east Queensland. [2] [6] It is found at altitudes ranging from sea level to 1,000 metres (3,300 ft). [2]
