''Glochidion ferdinandi'', with
common name
In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contrast ...
s that include cheese tree (see below), is a species of small to medium–sized trees, constituting part of the plant family
Phyllanthaceae
Phyllanthaceae is a family of flowering plants in the eudicot order Malpighiales. It is most closely related to the family Picrodendraceae.Kenneth J. Wurdack and Charles C. Davis. 2009. "Malpighiales phylogenetics: Gaining ground on one of the ...
. They grow naturally across eastern Australia, from south–eastern
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
northwards to northern and inland
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
, established_ ...
, in rainforests and humid
eucalypt
Eucalypt is a descriptive name for woody plants with capsule fruiting bodies belonging to seven closely related genera (of the tribe Eucalypteae) found across Australasia:
''Eucalyptus'', '' Corymbia'', '' Angophora'', ''Stockwellia'', ''Allosyn ...
forests. Frugivorous birds such as pigeons, figbirds and parrots consume its fruit.
Description
It grows as a woody shrub or small tree to , although occasionally reaching , with flaky brownish-grey bark. It has simple alternate-arranged elliptical leaves in length and wide; the species may be partly deciduous in winter. Flowering may occur at any time of year; the cheese tree has both single female and male flowers, which are found in groups of three. Both sexes are green-yellow, with the male flowers about 0.7 cm and the female 0.5 cm in diameter. The most notable feature are the small pumpkin-shaped fruit, which are green at first before turning shades of white and pink. Divided into segments radially, they eventually split open to reveal bright red 0.5 cm seeds from November to April.
Taxonomy and naming
The name "cheese tree" comes from its fruit's resemblance to small cheese wheels.
[ Other common names include water gum, button wood, pencil cedar, and ''jow-war''.]
The species was originally described by Swiss botanist Johannes Müller Argoviensis
Johann Müller (9 May 1828 - 28 January 1896) was a Swiss botanist who was a specialist in lichens. He published under the name Johannes Müller Argoviensis to distinguish himself from other naturalists with similar names.
Biography
Müller w ...
in 1865 as ''Phyllanthus
''Phyllanthus'' is the largest genus in the plant family Phyllanthaceae. Estimates of the number of species in this genus vary widely, from 750David J. Mabberley. 2008. ''Mabberley's Plant-Book.'' third edition (2008). Cambridge University P ...
ferdinandi'' before being given its current binomial name by Frederick Manson Bailey
Frederick Manson Bailey (8 March 1827 – 25 June 1915) was a botanist active in Australia, who made valuable contributions to the characterisation of the flora of Queensland. He was known by his middle name, Manson.
Early life
Bailey was bo ...
in 1902. Its specific epithet honours Victorian State Botanist Ferdinand von Mueller
Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (german: Müller; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Vict ...
.[ Note that the specific name is spelled with a single or double "i" by various sources.
An uncommon variety, ''pubens'', known as the hairy cheese tree, is smaller, with leaves and fruit finely hairy.
]
Distribution and habitat
The cheese tree grows in both clay and sandy soils, and is found in rainforest and wetter areas in sclerophyll forest, where it may be associated with such species as bangalay (''Eucalyptus botryoides
''Eucalyptus botryoides'', commonly known as the bangalay, bastard jarrah, woollybutt or southern mahogany, is a small to tall tree native to southeastern Australia. Reaching up to high, it has rough bark on its trunk and branches. It is found ...
''), woollybutt ('' E. longifolia''), forest red gum ('' E. tereticornis'') thin-leaved stringybark ('' E. eugenioides'') and swamp she-oak (''Casuarina glauca
''Casuarina glauca'', commonly known as the swamp she-oak, swamp oak, grey oak, or river oak, is a species of ''Casuarina'' native to the east coast of Australia. It is found from central Queensland south to southern New South Wales. It has becom ...
'').[ The hairy cheese tree grows with magenta lilly pilly ('']Syzygium paniculatum
''Syzygium paniculatum'', the magenta lilly pilly or magenta cherry, is a species of flowering plant in the myrtle family Myrtaceae, native to New South Wales, Australia. A broad dense bushy rainforest tree, in cultivation it grows to a height o ...
''), broad-leaved paperbark (''Melaleuca quinquenervia
''Melaleuca quinquenervia'', commonly known as the broad-leaved paperbark, paper bark tea tree, punk tree or niaouli, is a small- to medium-sized tree of the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. It grows as a spreading tree up to tall, with its trunk co ...
''), and '' Rhodomyrtus'' species.[
It is found from central Queensland to the vicinity of ]Ulladulla
Ulladulla is a coastal town in New South Wales, Australia in the City of Shoalhaven local government area. It is on the Princes Highway about south of Sydney, halfway between Batemans Bay to the south and Nowra to the north. Ulladulla has cl ...
(35° S) in southern New South Wales.[
]
Ecology
The fruits are eaten by several bird species, including the Australasian figbird
The Australasian figbird (''Sphecotheres vieilloti''), also known as the green figbird (not to be confused with the Timor figbird), is a conspicuous, medium-sized passerine bird native to a wide range of wooded habitats in northern and eastern ...
(''Sphecotheres vieilloti''), Lewin's honeyeater
Lewin's honeyeater (''Meliphaga lewinii'') is a bird that inhabits the ranges along the east coast of Australia. It has a semicircular ear-patch, pale yellow in colour.
The name of this bird commemorates the Australian artist John Lewin.
Descri ...
, (''Meliphaga lewinii''), olive-backed oriole
The olive-backed oriole (''Oriolus sagittatus''), or white-bellied oriole, is a very common medium-sized passerine bird native to northern and eastern Australia and south-central New Guinea. The most wide-ranging of the Australasian Old World ori ...
(''Oriolus sagittatus''),
white-headed pigeon
The white-headed pigeon (''Columba leucomela'') is a pigeon native to the east coast of Australia.
Taxonomy and systematics
The pigeon family is a group of stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills with a worldwide distribut ...
(''Columba leucomela''), topknot pigeon
The topknot pigeon (''Lopholaimus antarcticus'') is a pigeon native to eastern Australia.
Taxonomy
English naturalist George Shaw described the topknot pigeon as ''Columba antarctica'' in 1793.
The topknot pigeon is sister taxon to a lineage th ...
(''Lopholaimus antarcticus''), brown cuckoo-dove
The brown cuckoo-dove (''Macropygia phasianella'') is a dove in the genus ''Macropygia'' found in Australia from Weipa and Aurukun in the north to Bega, New South Wales, Bega in the south, and most inland at Atherton, Queensland, Atherton and Too ...
(''Macropygia phasianella''), and Australian king parrot
The Australian king parrot (''Alisterus scapularis'') is a species of parrot endemic to eastern Australia ranging from Cooktown in Queensland to Port Campbell in Victoria. Found in humid and heavily forested upland regions of the eastern portion ...
(''Alisterus scapularis''). The pied currawong
The pied currawong (''Strepera graculina'') is a black passerine bird native to eastern Australia and Lord Howe Island. One of three currawong species in the genus ''Strepera'', it is closely related to the butcherbirds and Australian magpie of ...
(''Strepera graculina'') also eats the fruit but regurgitates them, while new leafy growth is eaten by the rainbow lorikeet
The rainbow lorikeet (''Trichoglossus moluccanus'') is a species of parrot found in Australia. It is common along the eastern seaboard, from northern Queensland to South Australia. Its habitat is rainforest, coastal bush and woodland areas. Six ...
(''Trichoglossus haematodus''). It also serves as food for the larvae of the shining pencil-blue ('' Candalides helenita''), and the shining- or common oak-blue ('' Arhopala micale'').
The ladybird
Coccinellidae () is a widespread family of small beetles ranging in size from . They are commonly known as ladybugs in North America and ladybirds in Great Britain. Some entomologists prefer the names ladybird beetles or lady beetles as they ...
'' Scymnodes lividigaster'' feeds on the aphid '' Aphis eugeniae'', which feeds on the cheese tree.
''Glochidion ferdinandi'' presumably is dependent on leafflower moths (''Epicephala'' spp.) for its pollination, like other species of tree in the genus ''Glochidion''. Leafflower moths, including the species '' Epicephala colymbetella'', have been collected from fruit of this species.[Turner, A. J. (1940) "A revision of the Australian Gracillariidae (Lepidoptera)." ''Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of South Australia.'' 64: 50–69.] Although leafflower moths actively pollinate ''Glochidion'' flowers, the adult moths also lay eggs inside the flowers, where their caterpillars later consume a subset of the developing seeds in the fruit. ''G. ferdinandi'' is unusual (although not unique) among species of ''Glochidion'' in that the fruit contain empty carpel chambers within which ''E. colymbetella'' caterpillars pupate, and adult moths emerge.
''Glochidion ferdinandi'' is a long-lived species which may live for 60 years or more. It may sucker or resprout after bushfire. Seeds take 1–4 months to germinate.[
]
Cultivation
It is an easily grown pioneer species useful in bush regeneration
Bush regeneration, a form of natural area restoration, is the term used in Australia for the ecological restoration of remnant vegetation areas, such as through the minimisation of negative disturbances, both exogenous such as exotic weeds and en ...
and natural landscaping
Natural landscaping, also called native gardening, is the use of native plants and adapted species, including trees, shrubs, groundcover, and grasses which are local to the geographic area of the garden.
Benefits
Maintenance
Natural landsc ...
of areas to which it is native in eastern Australia. The species may colonise disturbed areas, and is a fast-growing plant. Plants require ample water but adapt to a wide range of soils and sun or shade.[ It can be grown as an indoor plant in a bright position.
]
Uses
The dried fruits, which resemble miniature pumpkins, are found in potpourri and sold as "putka pods".[http://idtools.org/id/dried_botanical/factsheet.php?name=Glochidion ferdinandi]
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q8964283
ferdinandi
Flora of Queensland
Flora of New South Wales
Malpighiales of Australia
Trees of Australia