Cassowary plum | |
---|---|
Street tree in Cairns, Queensland | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Asterids |
Order: | Gentianales |
Family: | Apocynaceae |
Genus: | Cerbera |
Species: | C. floribunda |
Binomial name | |
Cerbera floribunda | |
Synonyms [2] | |
|
Cerbera floribunda, commonly known as cassowary plum, grey milkwood, or rubber tree, is a plant in the family Apocynaceae which is native to the region from Sulawesi to the Solomon Islands, including north east Queensland.
Cerbera floribunda is a tree that grows up to 30 m (98 ft) in height. The bark is brown to grey/black, and the sap wood and heart wood are both white. Leaves are lanceolate-elliptic, glossy green above and paler beneath, alternate or whorled and crowded towards the ends of the twigs. They measure up to 30 cm (12 in) long by 5 cm (2.0 in) wide, with 13 to 20 curved lateral veins and are attached by a long petiole up to 40 mm (1.6 in) long. [3] [4]
The inflorescence is a much branched cyme up to 17 cm (6.7 in) with usually more than 50 flowers. The flowers have 5 white sepals, a corolla tube up to 12 mm (0.47 in) by 3 mm (0.12 in) wide with 5 free lobes at the end. They are white with a pink or red centre, are about 25 to 30 mm (0.98 to 1.18 in) in diameter, and have a sweet scent. [3] [4]
Fruits are a bright blue/purple drupe measuring about 10 cm (3.9 in) long by 5 cm (2.0 in) wide, slightly pointed and the end away from the pedicel (stem), with a single large seed. [3] [4]
Cerbera floribunda was first described by Karl Moritz Schumann in Die Flora von Kaiser Wilhelms Land (K.M.Schumann & U.M.Hollrung, Fl. Kais. Wilh. Land: 111 (1889)) in 1889. [2]
This is a tropical plant and favours abundant water. The native range is from Sulawesi, east through the Maluku Islands and New Guinea to Solomon Islands, and south to Queensland; it is widespread throughout the range and not considered to be endangered. It is generally found along creeks and marshes and always near permanent water. [2] [4] [5] Altitudinal range in Australia is from sea level to 500 m (1,600 ft). [3]
Fruits are swallowed whole by cassowaries, who are not affected by the toxins contained within. They then excrete the seeds later, helping to distribute them. The cassowary is the only animal able to provide this function, due to the size of the fruits, and this forms a classic example of a symbiotic relationship between the two species.
Rodents, in particular the White-tailed rat, eat the kernels after stripping away the flesh but in this case (if they leave some of the kernel behind) it is unlikely to germinate. [6]
As with other species of Cerbera, and indeed many other species in the family Apocynaceae, fruits of this plant are toxic to humans. Cerbera species contain the cardiac glycoside cerberin, and if eaten will result in nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and potentially death. [5] The white sap, which is produced from all parts of the tree, may also cause skin irritation on contact. [7]
The timber has been used for mouldings and interior finishings in Bouganville and other parts of Papua New Guinea, and for carvings and medicine in the Solomon Islands. [4]
See a map of recorded sightings of Cerbera floribunda at the Australasian Virtual Herbarium
Apocynaceae is a family of flowering plants that includes trees, shrubs, herbs, stem succulents, and vines, commonly known as the dogbane family, because some taxa were used as dog poison. Members of the family are native to the European, Asian, African, Australian, and American tropics or subtropics, with some temperate members. The former family Asclepiadaceae is considered a subfamily of Apocynaceae and contains 348 genera. A list of Apocynaceae genera may be found here.
Cerbera is a genus of evergreen trees or shrubs, native to tropical Asia, Australia, Madagascar, and various islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
Pleiogynium timoriense, commonly known as the Burdekin plum, sweet plum, tulip plum, or in the Djabugay language guybalum is a medium-sized fruit-bearing tree in the family Anacardiaceae native to Malesia, Australia and the Pacific Islands.
Normanbya is a monotypic genus of palms containing the single species Normanbya normanbyi, which is known by the common name black palm It is endemic to Queensland, Australia and is threatened by habitat destruction.
Alstonia macrophylla, the hard alstonia, hard milkwood or big-leaved macrophyllum, is a species of plant in the family Apocynaceae.
Parsonsia is a genus of woody vines in the family Apocynaceae. Species occur throughout Indomalaya, Australasia and Melanesia.
Semecarpus australiensis, commonly known as the tar tree, native cashew, marking nut, or cedar plum, is a species of tree in the cashew, sumac and mango family Anacardiaceae, native to parts of Melanesia and northern Australia. Contact with the plant can cause serious allergic reactions, a common characteristic of this family.
Elaeocarpus bancroftii, commonly known as Kuranda quandong, Johnstone River almond, ebony heart, grey nut, or nut tree is a large rainforest tree in the family Elaeocarpaceae which is endemic to Queensland. It has coriaceous leaves, attractive white flowers and relatively large fruit containing an edible kernel.
Dysoxylum pettigrewianum, commonly known as spur mahogany, spurwood, or Cairns satinwood, is a large tree in the family Meliaceae. It is native to the rainforests of Malesia, Papuasia and Queensland. In Queensland it occurs only in a small part of the northeast coast.
Lepidopetalum is a genus of six species of trees known to science, constituting part of the plant family Sapindaceae.
Fockea multiflora, or python vine, is a plant of the dogbane family, Apocynaceae, native to Tanzania, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Angola, Botswana, Namibia, including the Caprivi Strip, and Malawi. It is a large semisucculent liana, growing to some 15m in length and up to 60 cm in diameter, found primarily in the seasonally dry tropical biome.
Palaquium galactoxylum, commonly known as Cairns pencil cedar, Daintree maple or red silkwood, is a species of very large tree in the family Sapotaceae which is endemic to rainforests of New Guinea and northern Australia. It can produce spectacularly large buttress roots.
Elaeocarpus culminicola, commonly known as Michael's quandong, is a species of flowering plant in the family Elaeocarpaceae and is native to parts of Malesia and Australasia. It is a tree with wavy leaves with wavy or toothed edges, racemes of white, cream-coloured or pink flowers and more or less spherical fruit.
Gardenia actinocarpa is a rare and endangered plant in the madder family Rubiaceae that grows in a very restricted area within the Wet Tropics rainforest of north-east Queensland.
Cerbera inflata, commonly known as the cassowary plum, grey milkwood, Joojooga, or rubber tree, is a plant in the family Apocynaceae endemic to north east Queensland, specifically the Atherton Tablelands and adjacent areas.
Myristica insipida, commonly known in Australia as Australian nutmeg, Queensland nutmeg or native nutmeg, is a small rainforest tree in the family Myristicaceae native to parts of Malesia, Papuasia and Australia. It is closely related to the commercially-important species of nutmeg, M. fragrans.
Xanthophyllum octandrum, commonly known as Macintyre's boxwood, false jitta, yellow boxwood or sovereignwood, is a slow-growing tree in the milkwort family Polygalaceae which has the potential to reach thousands of years of age. It is endemic to coastal northeastern Queensland, Australia.
Alstonia muelleriana is a tree in the dogbane family Apocynaceae which is native to southern Papua New Guinea and northeastern Queensland.
Lasianthus chlorocarpus, commonly known as blue rubi, is a plant in the family Rubiaceae native to parts of Malesia, Papuasia and Australia. It is an evergreen shrub growing up to 2 m high in well developed rainforest.