The Arecaceae are a botanical family of perennial plants. Their growth form can be climbers, shrubs, trees and stemless plants, all commonly known as palms. Those having a tree form are colloquially called palm trees. They are flowering plants, a family in the monocot order Arecales. Currently 181 genera with around 2600 species are known, most of them restricted to tropical and subtropical climates. Most palms are distinguished by their large, compound, evergreen leaves, known as fronds, arranged at the top of an unbranched stem. However, palms exhibit an enormous diversity in physical characteristics and inhabit nearly every type of habitat within their range, from rainforests to deserts.
Rattan is the name for roughly 600 species of old world climbing palms belonging to subfamily Calamoideae. Rattan is also known as manila, or malacca, named after the ports of shipment Manila and Malacca City, and as manau. The climbing habit is associated with the characteristics of its flexible woody stem, derived typically from a secondary growth, makes rattan a liana rather than a true wood.
Mount Bartle Frere is the highest mountain in Queensland at an elevation of 1,611 metres (5,285 ft). The mountain was named after Sir Henry Bartle Frere, a British colonial administrator and then president of the Royal Geographical Society by George Elphinstone Dalrymple in 1873. Bartle Frere was British Governor of Cape Colony at the outset of the Zulu Wars. The Aboriginal name for the mountain is Chooreechillum.
Calamus is a genus of the palm family Arecaceae. These are among several genera known as rattan palms. There are an estimated 400 species in this genus, all native to tropical and subtropical Asia, Africa, and Australia. They are mostly leaf-climbing lianas with slender, reedy stems. To aid scrambling some species have evolved hooks on the underside of the midrib, or more commonly by modified "pinnae" or tendrils in the form of stout, backward-pointing spines. These stems may grow to lengths of 200 metres.
Dicksonia antarctica is a species of evergreen tree fern native to eastern Australia, ranging from south-east Queensland, coastal New South Wales and Victoria to Tasmania.
The Daintree Rainforest is a region located on the north east coast of Queensland, Australia, north of Mossman and Cairns. At around 1,200 square kilometres (460 sq mi), the Daintree is a part of the largest continuous area of tropical rainforest on the Australian continent. The Daintree Rainforest is a part of the Wet Tropics Rainforest, that spans across the Cairns Region. The Wet Tropics Rainforest is the oldest continually surviving tropical rainforest in the world. Along the coastline north of the Daintree River, tropical forest grows right down to the edge of the sea.
Eucalyptus crebra, commonly known as the narrow-leaved ironbark or narrowleaf red ironbark, is a type of Ironbark tree native to eastern Australia. A member of the large genus Eucalyptus, this tree is in the Myrtaceae family and can grow to a large spreading tree up to 35 m (115 ft) high. It is an important source of nectar in the honey industry and its hard, strong timber is used in construction.
Crinum pedunculatum also known as the swamp lily, river lily or mangrove lily, is a bulbous perennial found in stream and tidal areas of the Northern Territory, Queensland and New South Wales, Australia as well as New Guinea and some Pacific Islands. It is unclear whether it is native or introduced to Norfolk Island.
Alloxylon flammeum, commonly known as the Queensland tree waratah or red silky oak, is a medium-sized tree of the family Proteaceae found in the Queensland tropical rain forests of northeastern Australia. It has shiny green elliptical leaves up to 18 cm (7.2 in) long, and prominent orange-red inflorescences that appear from August to October, followed by rectangular woody seed pods that ripen in February and March. Juvenile plants have large deeply lobed pinnate leaves. Previously known as Oreocallis wickhamii, the initial specimen turned out to be a different species to the one cultivated and hence a new scientific name was required. Described formally by Peter Weston and Mike Crisp in 1991, A. flammeum was designated the type species of the genus Alloxylon. This genus contains the four species previously classified in Oreocallis that are found in Australasia.
Buckinghamia is a genus of only two known species of trees, belonging to the plant family Proteaceae. They grow naturally only (endemic) in the rainforests of the wet tropics region of north eastern Queensland, Australia. The ivory curl flower, B. celsissima, is the well known, popular and widely cultivated species in gardens and parks, in eastern and southern mainland Australia, and additionally as street trees north from about Brisbane. The second species, B. ferruginiflora, was only recently described in 1988.
Calamus rotang is a plant species native to India, Sri Lanka and Myanmar (Burma). It one of the scandent (climbing) rattan palms used to make Malacca cane furniture, baskets, walking-sticks, umbrellas, tables and general wickerwork, and is found in Southwest Asia. The basal section of the plant grows vertically for 10 metres or so, after which the slender, tough stem of a few centimetres in diameter, grows horizontally for 200 metres or more. It is extremely flexible and uniform in thickness, and frequently has sheaths and petioles armed with backward-facing spines which enable it to scramble over other plants. It has pinnate, alternate leaves, 60–80 cm long, armed with two rows of spines on the upper face.
Cymbidium madidum, commonly known as the giant boat-lip orchid, is a plant in the orchid family and is endemic to north-eastern Australia. It is a clump-forming epiphyte or lithophyte with crowded pseudobulbs, each with between four and eight flat, strap-shaped, thin leaves and up to seventy olive green flowers with the sepals and petals curving forwards. It is found in moist habitats in eastern Queensland and north-eastern New South Wales.
Dysoxylum pettigrewianum, commonly known as the spurwood, is a species of large tropical rainforest tree in the family Meliaceae. Found in Queensland, New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Malesia. In Queensland it is found in the wet tropics from Rossville near Cooktown in the north, southwards to Tully.
Lophostemon suaveolens is a tree species, also known as swamp mahogany, swamp box or swamp turpentine, of the botanical family Myrtaceae.
Capparis lasiantha is an endemic Australian plant with a range that extends from The Kimberley through The Northern Territory and Queensland to Northern New South Wales, primarily in drier inland areas although the species extends to the coast in Central Queensland. Common names are numerous and include Wyjeelah, Nepine, Split Jack, Nipang Creeper, Nipan, Native Orange and Bush Caper.
Ehretia saligna, commonly known as peach bush, native willow and peachwood is a species of shrubs or small trees, endemic to Northern Australia. The natural range extends from the Gascoyne, across the Northern Territory throughout northern Queensland and coastal; regions of Southern Queensland and New South Wales.
Chrysophyllum roxburghii is a plant species in the family Sapotaceae. It grows as a tree up to 30 metres (100 ft) tall, with a trunk diameter of up to 40 cm (16 in). The bark is grey to dark brown. Inflorescences bear up to 45 flowers. The fruit are brownish to purplish black, ripening yellow, round, up to 4 cm (2 in) in diameter. Its habitat is lowland forests from sea-level to 700 metres (2,300 ft) altitude. C. roxburghii grows naturally in Madagascar, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Queensland.
Dysoxylum parasiticum, known as yellow mahogany, is a species of rainforest trees in the family Meliaceae. The specific epithet parasiticum is from the Latin meaning "parasitic", referring to the now-incorrect idea that the flowers are parasitic on another tree species.
Eugene Fitzherbert Albini Fitzalan was an Irish-born botanist in Australia. He made many botanical expedition and discovered numerous new species. He created the first botanical garden in Cairns, Queensland, now the heritage-listed Flecker Botanical Gardens.
Climbing palms are genera in the family Arecaceae that grow as lianas. "Initially erect, the slender stems seek out trees for support and climb up into the forest canopy by means of recurved hooks and spines growing on the stem, leaves and inflorescences. In all climbing palms the leaves are pinnate and grow along the stem instead of forming a dense crown. The stems of climbing palms, more often referred to as canes, are solid in contrast to bamboo poles which are almost always hollow." "The majority of climbing palms are also clumping palms [and sympodial], sending out new shoots from [below ground as suckers]." "About 600 species of palms in [16] genera have a climbing growth habit. Most noteworthy is the genus Calamus--the largest genus in the palm family with approximately 350 described species--source of nearly all commercial rattan."
