''Alangium polyosmoides'' is a

rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...

tree of eastern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It occurs on a variety of different soils, generally close to the coast. Found from

Minmi Michiko Evwana (born December 8, 1974), better known by her stage name , is a Japanese hip-hop and reggae musician,, United Daily News (in Chinese), August 22, 2008 as well as a singer-songwriter and record producer. She is the first soca ar ...

near Newcastle to as far north as the

McIlwraith Range The McIlwraith Range is a rugged, dissected granite plateau on Cape York Peninsula of Far North Queensland, Australia. Part of the Great Dividing Range, the McIlwraith Range covers about and lies about east of the town of Coen, and north ...

in far north eastern Australia. It may be seen as a common understorey plant at Wingham Brush Nature Reserve. Common names include muskwood, black muskheart, brown muskheart and canary muskheart. The generic name is from the

Malabar Malabar may refer to the following: People * Malabars, people originating from the Malabar region of India * Malbars or Malabars, people of Tamil origin in Réunion Places * Malabar Coast, or Malabar, a region of the southwestern shoreline o ...

people, being their name of the related Asian species, '' Alangium decapetalum''. The specific epithet means "hairy". The subspecies name refers to the similarity of the leaves in the genus ''

Polyosma ''Polyosma'' is a genus of about 60 species of trees native to south-east Asia. They occur from China south through south-east Asia to the east coast of Australia, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and New Caledonia. Its taxonomic placement has ...

''.

Description

A small to occasionally mid-sized tree. Up to in height and with a trunk diameter of . The trunk in larger trees may be buttressed. The bark is marked by

lenticel A lenticel is a porous tissue consisting of cells with large intercellular spaces in the periderm of the secondarily thickened organs and the bark of woody stems and roots of dicotyledonous flowering plants. It functions as a pore, providing a ...

s, scales and corky bumps and irregularities, mostly greyish brown in colour. Small branches thin and grey, though hairy and green towards the end. In this subspecies, the twig between the leaves is not particularly hairy. Mature leaves are from 4 to 15 cm (1.4–6 in) long and 2 to 4 cm (0.8-1.6 in) wide, though juveniles may be larger. Alternate on the stem with a fairly long point. Leaves shaped oblong-ovate or oblong-elliptical. Unequal at the leaf base. Midrib, lateral veins and net veins evident from below the leaf. As are numerous yellow coloured bumps along the lateral veins and mid rib. This makes identification of this plant very clear, when in the rainforest. Leaf stem 6 to 13 mm long.

Flowers and fruit

Pale yellow flowers form on cymes from the leaf

axil A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, st ...

s. Three to five flowers per cyme, the flowers have a honeysuckle scent. The cyme is less than 2 cm long, which appears from October to April. 4 to 6 petals per flower, 2 mm wide and around 5 mm long. The fruit is a dark

drupe In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is an indehiscent fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pit'', ''stone'', or '' pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed (''kernel'') ...

, black or almost black. Ribbed and oval, 10 to 20 mm long. Fruit ripens from September to February and is eaten by rainforest birds, including the

rose-crowned fruit-dove The rose-crowned fruit dove (''Ptilinopus regina''), also known as pink-capped fruit dove or Swainson's fruit dove, is a medium-sized, up to 22 cm long, green fruit dove with a grey head and breast, an orange belly, whitish throat, yellow-or ...

, topknot pigeon and wompoo fruit-dove. Inside the fruit is an elliptic shaped, pointed seed, 10 mm long.

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q65930461, from2=Q4708228 polyosmoides Endemic flora of Australia Flora of New South Wales Flora of Queensland Asterids of Australia Trees of Australia