| Yellowheart | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Fruit and foliage | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Gentianales |
| Family: | Gentianaceae |
| Genus: | Fagraea |
| Species: | F. fagraeacea |
| Binomial name | |
| Fagraea fagraeacea | |
| Synonyms [3] | |
Fagraea fagraeacea, commonly known as yellowheart or pink jitta, is a plant in the gentian family Gentianaceae which is native to New Guinea and Queensland.
Yellowheart is a shrub or small tree that will grow to between 5 and 20 m (16 and 66 ft) high. The trunk has a plaited appearance and may be buttressed. The simple leaves are held on petioles up to 2.7 cm (1.1 in) long, the blades are usually elliptic, but may be ovate or obovate. They measure up to 10 cm (3.9 in) long and 4.5 cm (1.8 in) wide, are somewhat rounded at the base (cuneate) and have a narrow elongated "drip tip" (acuminate). The lateral veins are usually indistinct. [4] [5] [6]
The inflorescence is a panicle produced at the end of the branches with 15 to 30 flowers, or sometimes more. The fragrant tubular flowers have a green calyx about 4 mm (0.2 in) long, 5 white or cream petals fused into a tube about 8 to 20 mm (0.3 to 0.8 in) long, and lobes about 10 mm (0.4 in) long. The stamens are inserted in the upper half of the tube, the style is about 30 mm (1.2 in) long. [4] [5] [6]
The white, cream or pink fruit is, botanical terms, a berry measuring about 15 mm (0.6 in) long by 10 mm (0.4 in) wide, containng several brown seeds in a white pulp. [4] [5] [6]
Fagraea fagraeacea was originally described as Gardneria fagraeacea by the Victorian government botanist Ferdinand von Mueller, and published in 1868 in his massive work Fragmenta phytographiæ Australiæ . Mueller based his description on material from Rockingham Bay in north Queensland (In silvis ad sinum Rockingham's Bay), which was provided to him by the plant collector John Dallachy. [7]
In 1916 the English botanist George Claridge Druce reviewed a large number of newly named Australian and African plants that he considered had not been named in accordance with the rules of botanical nomenclature that existed at the time. [8] : 601 As a result of this work he gave this species the new combination Fagraea fagraeacea, which was published in the 1916 report to the Botanical Society and Exchange Club of the British Isles in 1917. [8] : 623
The natural range of this species is coastal and sub-coastal ranges of northeast Queensland, from around Rossville south to Paluma. [9] It inhabits well developed rainforest often on granite substrates, at altitudes from about 300 m (980 ft) to 1,350 m (4,430 ft). [4] [5] [6]
Both Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants and Flora of Australia treats Fagraea fagraeacea as endemic to Queensland, [4] [5] however, there is also a single collection of this species from Normanby Island in Papua New Guinea. The collection was made in 1977 but wasn't identified until 1992. [10]
This species is listed by the Queensland Department of Environment and Science as least concern. [1] As of 24 January 2024 [update] , it has not been assessed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The fruit of this species is eaten by golden bowerbirds (Prionodura newtoniana) and spotted catbirds (Ailuroedus maculosus). [6] Eastern whipbirds (Psophodes olivaceus), which are insectivores, have been observed inspecting the fruit of the yellowheart and eating what was presumed to be insect larvae that it found inside them. [11]
Acronychia acidula, commonly known as lemon aspen or lemon wood, is a species of small to medium-sized rainforest tree that is endemic to Queensland. It has simple, elliptical leaves, small groups of flowers in leaf axils and more or less spherical fruit. The aromatic and acidic fruit is harvested as a bushfood.
Hymenosporum is a monotypic genus of trees in the family Pittosporaceae. The sole included species is Hymenosporum flavum, commonly known as native frangipani, found in the rainforests and wet sclerophyll forests of New Guinea, Queensland and New South Wales. Despite its common name, it is not closely related to the frangipani, but is related to the widespread genus Pittosporum.
Flindersia pimenteliana, commonly known as maple silkwood, red beech or rose silkwood, is a species of tree in the family Rutaceae and is native to New Guinea and Queensland. It has pinnate leaves with three to seven egg-shaped to elliptic leaflets, panicles of red or reddish flowers and fruit studded with rough points.
Flindersia brayleyana, commonly known as Queensland maple, maple silkwood or red beech, is a species of tree in the family Rutaceae and is endemic to northern Queensland. It has pinnate leaves with between six and ten leaflets, panicles of white or cream-coloured flowers and smooth fruit that opens in five sections to release winged seeds.
Melicope elleryana, commonly known as pink flowered doughwood, pink evodia, corkwood, or saruwa, is a species of rainforest shrub or tree in the family Rutaceae, and is native to New Guinea, parts of eastern Indonesia, the Solomon Islands and northern Australia. It has trifoliate leaves and pink to white, bisexual flowers arranged in panicles in leaf axils.
Acradenia euodiiformis, commonly known as yellow satinheart or bonewood, is a species of tree that is endemic to eastern Australia. It has mostly trifoliate leaves, the leaflets narrow elliptic to lance-shaped, with prominent oil glands, and panicles of white flowers. It grows in and near rainforest.
Phaleria clerodendron, commonly known as scented daphne, scented phaleria or rosy apple, is an evergreen tree or tall shrub in the family Thymelaeaceae. It is endemic to the rainforests of north-eastern Queensland, Australia.
Acronychia wilcoxiana, commonly known as silver aspen, doughwood, snowwood or mushyberry, is a species of small rainforest tree that is endemic to eastern Australia. It has simple, elliptical to egg-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base, relatively large groups of whitish flowers in leaf axils and broadly oval to more or less spherical, white fruit.
Buckinghamia celsissima, commonly known as the ivory curl tree, ivory curl flower or spotted silky oak, is a species of tree in the family Proteaceae. It is endemic to the tropical rainforests of northeastern Queensland, Australia.
Palmeria scandens, commonly known as the anchor vine or pomegranate vine, is a climbing plant in the family Monimiaceae prevalent in rainforests of Queensland and New South Wales. It may also be present in New Guinea.
Acronychia vestita, commonly known as white aspen, lemon aspen, hairy aspen or fuzzy lemon aspen, is a species of rainforest tree that is endemic to Queensland. It has simple, elliptic to egg-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base, flowers arranged in relatively large groups, mostly in leaf axils and fleshy, pear-shaped to more or less spherical fruit.
Atractocarpus hirtus, commonly known as the hairy gardenia or native loquat, is a plant in the coffee family Rubiaceae, a large family of some 6,500 species with a cosmopolitan distribution. This species is endemic to northeastern Queensland, Australia.
Hypserpa laurina is a slender twining climber in the plant family Menispermaceae. It is native to New Guinea and north eastern Queensland in Australia.
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.
Archidendron vaillantii, commonly known as the salmon bean, is an evergreen tree in the legume family Fabaceae. It is endemic to the rainforests of northeast Queensland.
Benstonea monticola, commonly known as scrub breadfruit or urchin-fruited pandan, is a plant in the family Pandanaceae which is endemic to rainforested parts of north east Queensland, Australia.
Fagraea cambagei, commonly known as porcelain fruit, pink jitta, or yellowheart, is a plant in the family Gentianaceae which is endemic to rainforested parts of coastal northeast Queensland, Australia.
Atractocarpus sessilis, commonly known as brown randia, is an evergreen shrub in the family Rubiaceae. It is native to both Queensland, Australia, and Papua New Guinea (PNG).
Tetracera daemeliana, commonly known as large-leaved fire vine, is a vine in the guinea flower family Dilleniaceae first described in 1886, which is endemic to the northern half of Queensland, Australia. The flowers are pleasantly perfumed.
Gillbeea adenopetala, commonly known as Pink alder, is an evergreen tree in the largely southern hemisphere family Cunoniaceae. It was first described in 1865 and is endemic to a small part of Queensland, Australia.
Data related to Fagraea fagraeacea at Wikispecies
Media related to Fagraea fagraeacea at Wikimedia Commons