Brown tuckeroo | |
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Foliage | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Sapindales |
Family: | Sapindaceae |
Genus: | Cupaniopsis |
Species: | C. flagelliformis |
Binomial name | |
Cupaniopsis flagelliformis | |
Synonyms [4] | |
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Cupaniopsis flagelliformis, commonly known as brown tuckeroo or weeping flower tamarind, [2] is a tree in the lychee and maple family Sapindaceae endemic to eastern Australia. It is a small tree that inhabits drier or seasonal rainforests.
Cupaniopsis flagelliformis is a small tree growing up to 25 m (82 ft) high, with an open spreading crown. New growth is densely hairy and the twigs are puberulous. The leaves are compound and alternate, measuring up to 30 cm (12 in) long. They have 10 to 20 dentate leaflets that usually reach about 10 cm (3.9 in) by 4 cm (1.6 in), but can be much larger. [5] [6] [7] [8]
Small flowers are carried on a pendant spike up to 55 cm (22 in) long, produced either terminally or in the leaf axils. The sepals are much larger than the petals, and are red or pink. The petals are white or pink and the entire flower measures about 9 mm (0.4 in) diameter. [5] [6] [7] [8]
The red, pink or yellow fruit is a capsule about 22 mm (0.9 in) long by 26 mm (1.0 in) wide. They are densely hairy outside and silky hairy internally. They have three segments, each with a single brown or black seed that is mostly enclosed by an orange-yellow aril. [5] [6] [7] [8]
Flowering occurs from July to January, and the fruit ripen from September to July. [8]
This species was first described by the Australian botanist Frederick Manson Bailey, who published a description in the Queensland Department of Agriculture's Botany Bulletin in 1893. Bailey gave it the name Cupania flagelliformis. [9] In a 1924 revision of the family Sapindaceae, the Bavarian botanist Ludwig Adolph Timotheus Radlkofer transferred the species from Cupania (a South American genus) to Cupaniopsis. [10]
The variety Cupaniopsis flagelliformis var. australis was described by the Australian botanist Sally T. Reynolds in 1984, [11] and is recognised by Australian authorities, as well as the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). [12] [13] [14] Plants of the World Online and World Flora Online consider the variety a synonym of Cupaniopsis flagelliformis. [15] [16]
The genus name Cupaniopsis was derived from the existing South American genus Cupania, combined with the Ancient Greek ὄψις (ópsis), meaning 'appearance'. It may be interpreted as "resembling Cupania". The species epithet flagelliformis is a combination of the Latin words flagellum ('whip'), and fōrma ('shape'), which is a reference to the whip-like appearance of the inflorescence. [5] [8]
The brown tuckeroo inhabits tropical and sub-tropical rainforest and monsoon forest, where it grows as an understorey tree. [5] [6] [7] The altitudinal range is from sea level to about 1,100 m (3,600 ft). [6]
It occurs in four disjunct populations, from the top of Cape York Peninsula to northeastern New South Wales. The first group is found on Prince of Wales Island and on the tip of Cape York north of Bamaga. The next grouping is in and around Kutini-Payamu National Park, roughly from the Olive River to Lockhart River. The third and largest cluster is about 400 km (250 mi) south of Lockhart River, from near Cape Tribulation to the area around Ingham. The final, and most disjunct, group occurs about 1,300 km (810 mi) to the south, in the far southeast of Queensland and the far northeast of New South Wales. [17]
This species is listed by both the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Queensland Department of Environment and Science as least concern. The IUCN cites a wide distribution and the lack of any identified current or future threats as the basis for its assessment. [1] [2]
The tree is becoming popular as a cultivated plant, as it is easy to grow and has attractive foliage, flowers and fruit. [6] In the city of Cairns about 20 of these trees have been planted as street trees. [18] The brown tuckeroo is also available from the Cairns Regional Council for approved revegetation projects in Cairns. [19]
Cupaniopsis is a genus of about 45 species of flowering plants in the family, Sapindaceae and are native to Fiji, Indonesia, New Caledonia, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands Vanuatu, Samoa, Torres Strait Islands, Micronesia and Australia. Plants in the genus Cupaniopsis are trees with paripinnate with small, regular flowers with 5 sepals and petals with 6 to 10 stamens and the fruit a capsule.
Diploglottis is a genus of 11 species in the lychee and maple family Sapindaceae. Most species only occur in the Wet Tropics bioregion of Queensland, but all species except one are endemic to eastern Australia, with the exception being D. diphyllostegia, which also occurs in New Guinea. They are commonly called tamarinds, for example northern tamarind, Babinda tamarind and Bernie's tamarind, however they are not closely related to the true tamarind from the family Fabaceae.
Arytera is a genus of about twenty–eight species known to science, of trees and shrubs and constituting part of the plant family Sapindaceae. They grow naturally in New Guinea, Indonesia, New Caledonia, Australia, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga; and the most widespread species and type species A. littoralis grows throughout Malesia and across Southeast Asia, from NE. India, southern China, Borneo, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines to as far east as New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.
Atalaya is a genus of eighteen species of trees and shrubs of the plant family Sapindaceae. As of 2013 fourteen species grow naturally in Australia and in neighbouring New Guinea only one endemic species is known to science. Three species are known growing naturally in southern Africa, including two species endemic to South Africa and one species in South Africa, Eswatini and Mozambique.
Elattostachys is a genus of about 21 species of trees known to science, constituting part of the plant family Sapindaceae.
Lepiderema is a genus of eight species of trees in the lychee family Sapindaceae native to New Guinea and eastern Australia, plus one more from Queensland that is yet to be formally described. The type species is Lepiderema papuana.
Mischocarpus is a genus of about nineteen species of trees known to science, constituting part of the plant family Sapindaceae. They grow naturally from Australia and New Guinea, though Malesia as far north as the Philippines, through SE. Asia, Indo-China and S. China, to India at their farthest west. The eleven Australian species known to science grow naturally in the rainforests of the eastern coastal zone of New South Wales and Queensland, from Newcastle northwards through to north-eastern Queensland and Cape York Peninsula.
Cupaniopsis anacardioides, commonly known as tuckeroo, cashew-leaf cupania, carrotwood, beach tamarind or green-leaved tamarind, is a species of flowering plant in the family, Sapindaceae, and is native to eastern and northern Australia. It is a tree with paripinnate leaves with 4 to 8 egg-shaped leaflets with the narrower end towards the base, or elliptic leaves, and separate male and female flowers arranged in panicles, the fruit a more or less spherical golden yellow capsule.
Cupaniopsis baileyana, commonly known as narrow-leaved tuckeroo, toothed tuckeroo or white tamarind, is a species of flowering tree in the soapberry family and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is a tree with paripinnate leaves with 8 to 20 narrowly oblong to lance-shaped leaflets, and separate, male and female flowers arranged in panicles, the fruit a more or less spherical red to brown capsule.
Cupaniopsis newmanii, commonly known as long-leaved tuckeroo, is a species of flowering tree in the soapberry family and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is a rainforest tree with paripinnate leaves with 16 to 24 narrowly egg-shaped to elliptic leaflets, and separate male and female flowers arranged in panicles, the fruit a rust-coloured capsule flushed with pink.
Lepiderema pulchella, commonly known as fine-leaved tuckeroo, is a species of flowering plant in the family Sapindaceae and is endemic to coastal eastern Australia. It is a tree with pinnate, glossy light green leaves with four to fourteen leaflets, panicles of yellow-orange flowers and brown, spherical to three-lobed fruit.
Harpullia arborea, commonly known as Cooktown tulipwood in Australia, is species of flowering plant in the family Sapindaceae is native to the Indian subcontinent, Sri Lanka throughout Mainland Southeast Asia and Malesia to Queensland in Australia and the Western Pacific. It is a tree with paripinnate leaves with 6 to 10 leaflets, small pink or pale green flowers arranged in leaf axils or on old woody stems, and orange-yellow to red capsules containing shiny black seeds.
Guioa acutifolia is an evergreen tree from New Guinea and coastal areas of eastern Queensland in Australia. Common names include glossy tamarind, northern guioa and sharp-leaf guioa. It grows up to 20 metres high and has smooth, grey bark on its trunk which may be up to 15 cm wide. The sweetly scented flowers are produced between August and October in the species' native range Flowers and fruits often appear on immature trees.
Palaquium galactoxylum, commonly known as Cairns pencil cedar, Daintree maple or red silkwood, is a species of plants in the star apple family Sapotaceae which is endemic to rainforests of New Guinea and northern Australia. It can produce spectacularly large buttress roots.
Diploglottis diphyllostegia, commonly known as the northern tamarind, native tamarind or wild tamarind, is a tree in the lychee family Sapindaceae which is endemic to Queensland, Australia. It is an attractive tree with potential in cultivation, with a dense crown of dark green leaves and masses of fruit in spring and summer.
Diploglottis bernieana, commonly known as Bernie's tamarind or large leaf tamarind, is a plant in the maple and lychee family Sapindaceae. It was first described in 1987 by the Australian botanist Sally T. Reynolds and is found only the Wet Tropics region of northeastern Queensland, Australia.
Lepiderema sericolignis, commonly known as silkwood, is a plant in the maple and lychee family Sapindaceae found only in the Wet Tropics bioregion of Queensland, Australia.
Cupaniopsis foveolata, commonly known as narrow-leaved tuckeroo, white tamarind or toothed tuckeroo, is a plant in the maple and lychee family Sapindaceae found in eastern Queensland and New South Wales, Australia.
Diploglottis smithii, commonly known as Smith's tamarind or wild tamarind, is a plant in the maple family Sapindaceae found only in the Wet Tropics bioregion of Queensland, Australia.
Cupaniopsis serrata, commonly known as smooth tuckeroo, is a species of flowering plant in the soapberry family and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is a tree with paripinnate leaves with 6 to 12 oblong to egg-shaped leaflets with a pointed tip, and separate male and female flowers arranged in racemes, the fruit a more or less spherical capsule containing a seed with an orange aril.