''Alloxylon brachycarpum'' is a species of

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...

in the family

Proteaceae The Proteaceae form a family of flowering plants predominantly distributed in the Southern Hemisphere. The family comprises 83 genera with about 1,660 known species. Together with the Platanaceae and Nelumbonaceae, they make up the order Pro ...

. It is found in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

and

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

. It is threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

Description

''Alloxylon brachycarpum'' grows as a tree reaching 20–40 m high, with a rough, flaking grey to brown trunk. The adult leaves are simple and oval shaped, measuring 6–15 cm long by 2.5–5 cm wide with entire margins. The orange-red flower heads each contain 8 to 25 individual flowers arranged in

raceme A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...

s. These are followed by the development of the leathery seed pods, or fruit, up to 14 cm long and 2.5 cm wide, each of which contain 10-14 winged seeds in two rows. It resembles the Australian species '' A. flammeum'', which has longer, narrower leaves and brighter flowers.

Taxonomy

Dutch botanist Herman Sleumer described this species as ''Embothrium brachycarpum'' in 1939 before transferring it to the genus ''

Oreocallis ''Oreocallis'' is a South American plant genus in the family Proteaceae. There is only one species, ''Oreocallis grandiflora'', which is native to mountainous regions in Peru and Ecuador. Previously, the genus was considered to have several spec ...

''. However the fruit of the type specimen were deformed and the species in fact has the largest fruit of the genus. Peter Weston and Mike Crisp of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney reviewed and recognised the Australasian members of the genus ''

'' as distinct from their South American counterparts, and hence reallocated them to the new genus ''

Alloxylon ''Alloxylon'' is a genus of four species in the family Proteaceae of mainly small to medium-sized trees. They are native to the eastern coast of Australia, with one species, '' A. brachycarpum'' found in New Guinea and the Aru Islands. The genus ...

'' in 1991. Local native names include ''kawoli'' in Merauke, and ''anga'' in Trangan.

Distribution and habitat

''Alloxylon brachycarpum'' is found in dry rainforests and eucalypt-bamboo forests in southern New Guinea, along the Upper Merauke River, Lower Fly River and Oriomo River, and in the

Aru Islands The Aru Islands Regency ( id, Kabupaten Kepulauan Aru) is a group of about 95 low-lying islands in the Maluku Islands of eastern Indonesia. It also forms a regency of Maluku Province, with a land area of . At the 2011 Census the Regency had a po ...

. Its ecological community is threatened by logging.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4733255 brachycarpum Endangered plants Trees of the Maluku Islands Trees of New Guinea Plants described in 1939 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot