Melicope rubra

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Little evodia
Melicope-rubra-SF24050-02.jpg
Mature tree in Cairns
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Sapindales
Family: Rutaceae
Genus: Melicope
Species:
M. rubra
Binomial name
Melicope rubra
Synonyms [2] [3]
  • Euodia rubraLauterb. & K.Schum. (1900)
  • Evodia rubraLauterb. & K.Schum. orth. var.
  • Acronychia caulifloraLauterb. (1918)
  • Evodiella cauliflora(Lauterb.) B.L.Linden (1959)

Melicope rubra, commonly known as the little evodia, [4] is a species of small tree in the citrus family Rutaceae, native to New Guinea and northeast Queensland. It was originally described as Euodia rubra in 1900. It has trifoliate leaves and pink bisexual flowers arranged on branches below the leaves.

Contents

Description

Melicope rubra is a tree that may grow to a height of 7 m (23 ft) with a trunk diameter of about 30 cm (12 in), but flowers and fruits as a shrub. The leaves are arranged in opposite pairs and are trifoliate on a petiole 20–75 mm (0.79–2.95 in) long. The leaflets are egg-shaped, 40–150 mm (1.6–5.9 in) long and 15–45 mm (0.59–1.77 in) wide, the leaflets sessile or on a petiolule up to 10 mm (0.39 in) long. The flowers are bisexual and arranged in panicles 25–65 mm (0.98–2.56 in) long on branches below the leaves. The sepals are more or less round to egg-shaped, 1.5–2.5 mm (0.059–0.098 in) long and joined at the base. The petals are pink, 5–6 mm (0.20–0.24 in) long and there are four stamens. Flowering occurs from February to June and the fruit consists of up to four follicles 20–30 mm (0.79–1.18 in) long and fused for at least half their length. [4] [5] [6]

Taxonomy

The little evodia was first formally described as Euodia rubra by the German botanists Carl Adolf Georg Lauterbach and Karl Moritz Schumann, based on plant material collected in New Guinea by Lauterbach in 1896. Their work was published in 1900 in Schumann's book, Die Flora der Deutschen Schutzgebiete in der Sudsee. [7] [8] In 2001 the American botanist Thomas Gordon Hartley published a 329-page revision of the closely related genera Euodia and Melicope , in which he transferred this species to Melicope. [6] [9]

Etymology

The genus name Melicope is from the Ancient Greek méli (honey), and cope (to chop, cut or divide), which refers to the notches in the nectar glands. The species epithet rubra is from the Latin ruber , red. [10]

Distribution and habitat

This species is native to northeastern Queensland (where it ranges from near Rossville southwards to the area around Cardwell) and New Guinea (where it is mostly found along the central chain of highlands). [11] It grows in and adjacent to rainforest, and also in monsoon forest and wet sclerophyll forest. Its altitudinal range in Queensland is from sea level to about 850 m (2,790 ft), and 100 to 3,450 m (330 to 11,320 ft) in New Guinea. [4] [5] [6]

Conservation status

This species is classified as least concern under the Queensland Government's Nature Conservation Act 1992 . [1] As of 19 February 2024, it has not been assessed by the international Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Ecology

Various species of honeyeaters and lorikeets visit the flowers for nectar, and the seeds are eaten by Macleay's honeyeaters (Xanthotis macleayanus). The tree also serves as one of the host plants for the Ulysses butterfly (Papilio ulysses) and the Emperor Gum Moth (Opodiphthera eucalypti). [10] [12] [13] [14] [15]

Cultivation

The little evodia has become a popular choice for both private gardens and public parks and streets, due to its small size, colourful flowers and the birds and butterflies which are attracted to it. Around 95 plants of this species have been planted by Cairns Regional Council around the city. [5] [12] [16]

Related Research Articles

<i>Melicope</i> Genus of plants

Melicope is a genus of about 240 species of shrubs and trees in the family Rutaceae, occurring from the Hawaiian Islands across the Pacific Ocean to tropical Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Plants in the genus Melicope have simple or trifoliate leaves arranged in opposite pairs, flowers arranged in panicles, with four sepals, four petals and four or eight stamens and fruit composed of up to four follicles.

<i>Tetradium</i> Genus of plants

Tetradium is a genus of trees in the family Rutaceae, occurring in temperate to tropical East Asia. In older books, the genus was often included in the related genus Euodia, but that genus is now restricted to tropical species. In cultivation in English-speaking countries, they are known as Euodia, Evodia, or Bee bee tree.

Thomas Gordon Hartley was an American botanist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yellow honeyeater</span> Species of bird

The yellow honeyeater is a species of bird in the family Meliphagidae. It is endemic to Australia.

<i>Melicope elleryana</i> Species of shrub

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.

<i>Melicope micrococca</i> Species of tree

Melicope micrococca, commonly known as hairy-leaved doughwood or white euodia, is a species of shrub or slender tree in the family Rutaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It has trifoliate leaves and white flowers borne in panicles in leaf axils.

Carl Adolf Georg Lauterbach was a German explorer and botanist.

<i>Melicope polybotrya</i> Species of shrub

Melicope polybotrya is a species of shrub or small tree in the family Rutaceae and is endemic to Lord Howe Island. It has trifoliate leaves and green flowers borne in short panicles in leaf axils.

<i>Melicope bonwickii</i> Species of tree

Melicope bonwickii, commonly known as the yellow evodia or yellow corkwood, is a species of tree in the family Rutaceae and is native to Java and the Philippines, and southward to New Guinea and north-eastern Australia. It has trifoliate leaves and small pink flowers borne in panicles in leaf axils.

<i>Acronychia acronychioides</i> Species of flowering plant

Acronychia acronychioides, commonly known as white aspen, is a species of small to medium-sized rainforest tree that is endemic to north-eastern Queensland. It has trifoliate leaves with elliptic to egg-shaped leaflets on stems that are more or less cylindrical, creamy yellow flowers in large groups in leaf axils and fleshy, pear-shaped or spherical fruit.

<i>Medicosma fareana</i> Species of tree

Medicosma fareana, commonly known as white aspen, is a species of rainforest small tree in the family Rutaceae and is endemic to north Queensland. It has elliptical leaves and white or cream-coloured flowers borne singly or in small groups in leaf axils.

Melicope affinis is a species of shrub or tree in the family Rutaceae and is endemic to Queensland. It has trifoliate leaves and small greenish white flowers borne in panicles in leaf axils.

<i>Melicope broadbentiana</i> Species of shrub

Melicope broadbentiana, commonly known as false euodia, is a species of shrub or tree in the family Rutaceae and is endemic to Queensland. It has simple leaves, trifoliate leaves or both, and small white flowers borne in short panicles in leaf axils.

Melicope fellii is a species of tree in the family Rutaceae and is endemic to Queensland. It has trifoliate leaves and pink flowers borne in short panicles in leaf axils.

<i>Melicope jonesii</i> Species of tree

Melicope jonesii is a species of tree in the family Rutaceae and is endemic to north-east Queensland. It has trifoliate leaves and greenish or cream-coloured flowers borne in short panicles in leaf axils.

Melicope littoralis , commonly known as shade tree, is a species of shrub or small tree in the family Rutaceae and is endemic to Norfolk Island. It has trifoliate leaves and small white flowers borne in leaf axils in panicles of a few to many flowers.

Melicope peninsularis is a species of small tree in the family Rutaceae and is endemic to tropical north Queensland. It has trifoliate leaves and white flowers borne in short panicles in leaf axils.

<i>Melicope vitiflora</i> Species of tree

Melicope vitiflora, commonly known as northern evodia, fishpoison wood, leatherjacket or leatherwood, is a species of shrub or small tree in the family Rutaceae and is native to north-eastern Australia and New Guinea. It has trifoliate leaves and green to white or cream-coloured flowers borne in panicles in leaf axils.

<i>Melicope xanthoxyloides</i> Species of tree

Melicope xanthoxyloides is a species of small tree in the family Rutaceae and is native to New Guinea and Queensland. It has trifoliate leaves and small green to yellow or cream-coloured flowers arranged in panicles in leaf axils.

<i>Lasianthus chlorocarpus</i> Species of plant in the family Rubiaceae

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.

References

  1. 1 2 "Species profile—Melicope rubra". Queensland Department of Environment and Science. Queensland Government. 2022. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
  2. 1 2 "Melicope rubra". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  3. ↑ "Melicope rubra (Lauterb. & K.Schum.) T.G.Hartley". Plants of the World Online . Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 2024. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
  4. 1 2 3 Hartley, T.G. (2022). "Melicope rubra (Lauterb. & K.Schum.) T.G.Hartley". Flora of Australia . Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water: Canberra. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
  5. 1 2 3 F.A.Zich; B.P.M.Hyland; T.Whiffen; R.A.Kerrigan (2020). "Melicope rubra". Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants Edition 8 (RFK8). Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research (CANBR), Australian Government . Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  6. 1 2 3 Hartley, T.G. (February 2001). "On the Taxonomy and Biogeography of Euodia and Melicope (Rutaceae)". Allertonia. 8 (1): 211–213. JSTOR   23189298.
  7. ↑ "Euodia rubra". Australian Plant Name Index (APNI). Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research, Australian Government . Retrieved 19 February 2024.
  8. ↑ Schumann, Karl Moritz; Lauterbach, Carl Adolf Georg (1900). Die Flora der deutschen Schutzgebiete in der Südsee. Leipzig: Gebrüder Borntraeger. pp. 375–376. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  9. ↑ "Melicope rubra". Australian Plant Name Index (APNI). Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research, Australian Government . Retrieved 19 February 2024.
  10. 1 2 Cooper, Wendy; Cooper, William T. (June 2004). Fruits of the Australian Tropical Rainforest. Clifton Hill, Victoria, Australia: Nokomis Editions. p. 470. ISBN   978-0958174213.
  11. ↑ "Search: species: Melicope rubra | Occurrence records". Australasian Virtual Herbarium . Australian Government . Retrieved 19 February 2024.
  12. 1 2 Simpson, Donald. "Melicope rubra". Some Magnetic Island Plants. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
  13. ↑ "Melicope rubra". Australian Native Plants Society (Australia). Retrieved 20 February 2024.
  14. ↑ "Papilio ulysses". Coffs Harbour Butterfly House. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
  15. ↑ "Austrocaligula eucalypti". Coffs Harbour Butterfly House. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
  16. ↑ "TreePlotter". Cairns Regional Council’s Street and Park Tree Database.
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