Leopardwood | |
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Flindersia maculosa | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Sapindales |
Family: | Rutaceae |
Genus: | Flindersia |
Species: | F. maculosa |
Binomial name | |
Flindersia maculosa | |
Synonyms [1] | |
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Flindersia maculosa, commonly known as leopardwood or leopard tree, [2] is a species of tree in the family Rutaceae and is endemic to inland areas of eastern Australia. It has mottled bark, simple leaves arranged in opposite pairs, white to cream-coloured flowers and fruit studded with rough points.
Flindersia maculosa is a tree that typically grows to a height of 15 m (49 ft), developing from a tangled mass of spiny branches in the juvenile stage. The trunk is mottled due to the bark shedding in patches. The leaves are simple, arranged in opposite pairs, narrow oblong to lance-shaped or linear, 10–80 mm (0.39–3.15 in) long and 2.5–10 mm (0.098–0.394 in) wide on a petiole 2–15 mm (0.079–0.591 in) long. The upper surface of the leaf is shiny and dark green, the lower side dull and paler. The flowers are arranged in panicles 10–80 mm (0.39–3.15 in) long on the ends of branchlets. The sepals are 1–1.5 mm (0.039–0.059 in) long, the petals white to cream-coloured and 3–4 mm (0.12–0.16 in) long. Flowering occurs from September to December and the fruit is a woody capsule studded with rough points and that opens into five section, releasing winged seeds about 18 mm (0.71 in) long. [2] [3]
Leopardwood was first formally described in 1848 by John Lindley in Thomas Mitchell's Journal of an Expedition into the Interior of Tropical Australia. [4] In 1963, George Bentham changed the name to Flindersia maculosa in Flora Australiensis . [5] [6]
Flindersia maculosa grows on stony hills and sand plains from Hughenden in central Queensland to the Riverina district in south-western New South Wales and from Walgett to Ivanhoe and Broken Hill in that state. [2] [3]
Leopardwood is a useful fodder tree in drought periods but as the tree does not recuperate well, it should only be pollarded. [7] The wood of the tree is sometimes used to construct fence posts and pick handles. [8]
Nectar from the buds, and gum from the bark has been used to make a sweet drink. [9] The drink from the gum has been used as a remedy for diarrhea. [10]
Larvae of the moth Opodiphthera astrophela feed on the leopardwood tree. [11] An unidentified beetle in the genus Anilara can cause serious damage to the leopardwood tree. [12] The mistletoe Amyema lucasii grows almost exclusively on the F. maculosa. [13]
Flindersia maculosa is classified as of "least concern" under the Queensland Government Nature Conservation Act 1992 . [14]
Flindersia is a genus of 17 species of small to large trees in the family Rutaceae. They have simple or pinnate leaves, flowers arranged in panicles at or near the ends of branchlets and fruit that is a woody capsule containing winged seeds. They grow naturally in Australia, the Moluccas, New Guinea and New Caledonia.
Eucalyptus grossa, commonly known as coarse-leaved mallee, is a species of mallee or rarely a straggly tree, that is endemic to Western Australia. It has rough, fibrous bark on the trunk and all but the thinnest branches, broadly lance-shaped to egg-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven, yellowish green flowers and cup-shaped to cylindrical fruit.
Flindersia ifflana, commonly known as hickory ash or Cairns hickory, is a species of tree in the family Rutaceae and is native to Papua New Guinea and Queensland. It has pinnate leaves with between four and twelve egg-shaped to elliptical leaflets, panicles of white or cream-coloured flowers and woody fruit studded with rough points.
Flindersia laevicarpa, commonly known in Australia as rose ash, scented maple or dirran maple, is a species of medium-sized to large tree in the family Rutaceae and is native to Papua New Guinea, West Papua and Queensland. It has pinnate leaves with four to eight egg-shaped to elliptical leaflets, panicles of cream-coloured, yellowish, red or purple flowers and smooth woody fruit that split into five at maturity, releasing winged seeds.
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.
Eucalyptus drummondii, commonly known as Drummond's gum or Drummond's mallee, is a species of mallee or tree that is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. It has smooth bark, narrow elliptical to egg-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven, white flowers and hemispherical fruit.
Amyema quandang is a species of hemi-parasitic shrub which is widespread throughout the mainland of Australia, especially arid inland regions, sometimes referred to as the grey mistletoe.
Grevillea pteridifolia is a species of Grevillea native to Australia. Common names include silky grevillea, Darwin silky oak, ferny-leaved silky oak, fern-leaved grevillea, golden grevillea, golden tree and golden parrot tree. It occurs in Western Australia, Northern Territory, and Queensland.
Pentaceras australe, commonly known as bastard crow's ash, penta ash or black teak, is the only species in the genus Pentaceras in the plant family Rutaceae. It is a small to medium-sized rainforest tree endemic to eastern Australia. It has pinnate leaves with up to fifteen leaflets, small white flowers arranged in panicles on the ends of branchlets, and winged seeds.
Eucalyptus albens, known as the white box, is a common tree of the western slopes and plains of New South Wales and adjacent areas in Queensland and Victoria. It has rough, fibrous bark on the base of its trunk and smooth, white bark above. The leaves are lance-shaped and groups of seven spindle-shaped flower buds are arranged in leaf axils or on the ends of the branches. White flowers are mostly present between August and February and the fruit are barrel-shaped to urn-shaped.
Flindersia collina, commonly known as broad-leaved leopard tree, leopard ash, bastard crow's ash or leatherwood, is a species of tree in the family Rutaceae and is endemic to north-eastern Australia. It usually has pinnate leaves with between three and seven elliptical to spatula-shaped leaves, panicles of white flowers and fruit studded with rough points.
Melaleuca alsophila, commonly known as the saltwater paperbark, is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the north of Western Australia. It is a dense shrub or small tree with fibrous or papery bark and is common in areas seasonally inundated during the wet season.
Flindersia xanthoxyla, commonly known as yellowwood, long jack or yellowwood ash, is a species of rainforest tree that is endemic to eastern Australia. It has pinnate leaves arranged in opposite pairs with seven to eleven leaflets, panicles of yellow flowers and woody fruit studded with rough points on the surface.
Eucalyptus loxophleba, commonly known as York gum, daarwet, goatta, twotta or yandee is a species of tree or mallee that is endemic to Western Australia. It has rough bark on the trunk, smooth olive to brownish bark above, lance-shaped adult leaves, flowers buds in groups of between seven and eleven, white flowers and conical fruit.
Medicosma cunninghamii, commonly known as pinkheart or bonewood, is a species of shrub or small tree in the family Rutaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It has simple, narrow oblong to lance-shaped leaves and small white or cream-coloured flowers arranged in small groups.
Amyema bifurcata is an epiphytic, flowering, hemiparasitic plant of the family Loranthaceae native to Australia and found in Western Australia, the Northern Territory, Queensland and New South Wales.
Boronia rigens, commonly known as the stiff boronia, is a plant in the citrus family Rutaceae and is endemic to south-eastern New South Wales in Australia. It is a low, compact shrub with mostly trifoliate, glandular leaves and white to pale pink, four-petalled flowers in the leaf axils.
Asterolasia correifolia is a species of erect shrub that is endemic to eastern Australia. It has white to brown star-shaped hairs on its stems, lance-shaped to elliptical leaves densely covered with white star-shaped hairs on the lower surface, and white to cream-coloured or yellow flowers arranged in umbels of four to ten or more in leaf axils, the back of the petals densely covered with white hairs.
Flindersia acuminata, commonly known as silver silkwood, icewood, Putt's pine, Paddy King's beech or silver maple, is a species of tree that has pinnate leaves with between six and ten egg-shaped to elliptic leaflets, creamy yellow flowers arranged in panicles, and fruit studded with short, rough points.
Flindersia dissosperma, commonly known as scrub leopardwood, is a species of small tree in the family Rutaceae and is endemic to eastern-central Queensland. It usually has pinnate leaves with between three and five elliptical to egg-shaped leaves, panicles of white to cream-coloured flowers and fruit studded with rough points.