''Atractocarpus hirtus'', commonly known as the hairy gardenia or native loquat, is a plant in the madder family

Rubiaceae The Rubiaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the coffee, madder, or bedstraw family. It consists of terrestrial trees, shrubs, lianas, or herbs that are recognizable by simple, opposite leaves with interpetiolar stipules a ...

, a large family of some 6,500

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

with a cosmopolitan distribution. This species is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to north-east

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

, Australia.

Description

The hairy gardenia is a straggly, woody, rainforest shrub growing up to . The stems, leaves and fruits are densely covered in soft hairs, hence the common name.

Stipule In botany, a stipule is an outgrowth typically borne on both sides (sometimes on just one side) of the base of a leafstalk (the petiole). Stipules are considered part of the anatomy of the leaf of a typical flowering plant, although in many speci ...

s are present and are around long. The

lanceolate The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regular ...

leaves are

simple Simple or SIMPLE may refer to: *Simplicity, the state or quality of being simple Arts and entertainment * ''Simple'' (album), by Andy Yorke, 2008, and its title track * "Simple" (Florida Georgia Line song), 2018 * "Simple", a song by Johnn ...

and opposite or 3-4 whorled, measuring around long by wide, dark green, and have between 11 and 14 lateral veins on either side of the

midrib This glossary of botanical terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to botany and plants in general. Terms of plant morphology are included here as well as at the more specific Glossary of plant morphology and Glossary o ...

. Flowers are pentamerous and

actinomorphic Floral symmetry describes whether, and how, a flower, in particular its perianth, can be divided into two or more identical or mirror-image parts. Uncommonly, flowers may have no axis of symmetry at all, typically because their parts are spirall ...

, quite fragrant and borne in small terminal groups. The green calyx tube is about long with lobes reduced to small teeth. The corolla is white, the corolla tube is long with five lobes ( petals) measuring in length. The anthers, which do not extend beyond the corolla tube, measure about long; the pistil about long. This species is

gynodioecious Gynodioecy is a rare breeding system that is found in certain flowering plant species in which female and hermaphroditic plants coexist within a population. Gynodioecy is the evolutionary intermediate between hermaphroditism (exhibiting both fema ...

, that is, individual plants are either female or

hermaphroditic In reproductive biology, a hermaphrodite () is an organism that has both kinds of reproductive organs and can produce both gametes associated with male and female sexes. Many taxonomic groups of animals (mostly invertebrates) do not have s ...

. The fruits of this plant are a densely hairy drupe, somewhat pear-shaped and measuring about in diameter by long, including the attached calyx tube. The body of the fruit is orange and the calyx tube is green. They contain numerous seeds about long immersed in an orange pulp. Flowering occurs from May to November, and fruits ripen from December to August.

Taxonomy

''Atractocarpus hirtus'' was first described as ''Gardenia hirta'' in 1869 by Ferdinand von Mueller in his work '' Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae'' (vol. 7), from a specimen collected in 1867 by John Dallachy near the

Tully River The Tully River is a river located in Far North Queensland, Australia. Course and features The Tully River rises in the Cardwell Range, part of the Great Dividing Range on the northern boundary of the Kirrama State Forest. The river flows g ...

(then known as the Mackay River). Mueller later transferred it to the genus ''Randia'' in his publication ''

Systematic Census of Australian Plants The ''Systematic census of Australian plants, with chronologic, literary and geographic annotations'', more commonly known as the ''Systematic Census of Australian Plants'', also known by its standard botanic abbreviation ''Syst. Census Austral. ...

'' of 1882. In a 1999 revision of the Australian species of ''Gardenia'' and ''Randia'', published in ''

Australian Systematic Botany ''Australian Systematic Botany'' is an international peer-reviewed scientific journal published by CSIRO Publishing. It is devoted to publishing original research, and sometimes review articles, on topics related to systematic botany, such as bio ...

'', the Australian botanist C.F. Puttock reassigned this species and gave it the current combination ''Atractocarpus hirtus''.

Etymology

The genus name ''Atractocarpus'' is derived from the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

terms ''atractos'', meaning "spindle", and ''karpos'' meaning "fruit", and refers to the spindle-shaped fruit of the type species. The species epithet '' hirtus'' is a

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

word meaning "hairy".

Distribution and habitat

This species is endemic to a small part of the

World Heritage A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

listed

Wet Tropics of Queensland The Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage Site consists of approximately 8,940 km2 of Australian wet tropical forests growing along the north-east Queensland portion of the Great Dividing Range. The Wet Tropics of Queensland meets all f ...

, with a range extending from Cape Tribulation in the north to

Hinchinbrook Island Hinchinbrook Island (or Pouandai to the Biyaygiri people) is an island in the Cassowary Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. It lies east of Cardwell and north of Lucinda, separated from the north-eastern coast of Queensland by the narrow H ...

in the south. The altitudinal range is from sea level to around .

Conservation

''Atractocarpus hirtus'' is listed as

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

by both the IUCN and the

Queensland Government The Queensland Government is the democratic administrative authority of the Australian state of Queensland. The Government of Queensland, a parliamentary constitutional monarchy was formed in 1859 as prescribed in its Constitution, as amended f ...

's Department of Environment and Science.

Gallery

File:Atractocarpus-hirtus-JL Dowe.jpg, Fruit File:Atractocarpus hirtus foliage SF20277.jpg, Foliage File:Atractocarpus hirtus 141864391.jpg, File:Atractocarpus hirtus 98483673.jpg, Underside of foliage

References

External links

* *
View a map
of recorded sightings of this species at the

Australasian Virtual Herbarium The ''Australasian Virtual Herbarium'' (AVH) is an online resource that allows access to plant specimen data held by various Australian and New Zealand herbaria. It is part of the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA), and was formed by the amalgama ...

View observations
of this species on

iNaturalist iNaturalist is a social network of naturalists, citizen scientists, and biologists built on the concept of mapping and sharing observations of biodiversity across the globe. iNaturalist may be accessed via its website or from its mobile applic ...

View images
of this species on Flickriver {{Taxonbar, from=Q15399422 hirtus Endemic flora of Queensland Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller Taxa named by Christopher Francis Puttock Plants described in 1999 Gentianales of Australia