''Gmelina fasciculiflora'', known as the northern white beech is a species of trees
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 elsew ...
to the
Queensland tropical rain forests
The Queensland tropical rain forests ecoregion (WWF ID: AA0117) covers a portion of the coast of Queensland in northeastern Australia and belongs to the Australasian realm. The forest contains the world's best living record of the major stages ...
, Australia, of the
mint
MiNT is Now TOS (MiNT) is a free software alternative operating system kernel for the Atari ST system and its successors. It is a multi-tasking alternative to TOS and MagiC. Together with the free system components fVDI device drivers, XaA ...
(Lamiaceae) plant family.
Gmelina
''Gmelina'' is a genus of plants in the family Lamiaceae. It consists of about 35 species in Australia, New Guinea, New Caledonia, Southeast Asia, India and a few in Africa. Some species such as ''G. arborea'' have been planted and/or become natu ...
'' found in Australia.[
]
Taxonomy
''Gmelina fasciculiflora'' was first described by English botanist George Bentham
George Bentham (22 September 1800 – 10 September 1884) was an English botanist, described by the weed botanist Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century". Born into a distinguished family, he initially studi ...
in his ''Flora Australiensis'' in 1870, from a collection by Dallachy.[ Its species name is derived from ]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 ...
and means "flowers in clusters".
Description
It shares characteristics with the more southerly white beech
''Gmelina leichhardtii'', the white beech, is a tree of eastern Australia. Scattered individuals or small groups of trees naturally occur from the Illawarra district of New South Wales (34½° S) to near Proserpine in tropical Queensland. ...
. Having pale twigs, similar shaped opposite leaves
In botany, phyllotaxis () or phyllotaxy is the arrangement of leaves on a plant stem. Phyllotactic spirals form a distinctive class of patterns in nature.
Leaf arrangement
The basic arrangements of leaves on a stem are opposite and alterna ...
with a stem around 2 cm long. Leaves, however, are glossy and not nearly as hairy as the southern species. The leaves are 12 cm long and 7 wide. Flat glands may be seen at the base of the leaves as well as hairy domatia
A domatium (plural: domatia, from the Latin "domus", meaning home) is a tiny chamber that houses arthropods, produced by a plant.
Ideally domatia differ from galls in that they are produced by the plant rather than being induced by their inhabi ...
on the underside of the leaves. Purple spotted cream coloured flowers appear from February to May on large panicle
A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a panicle are of ...
s. These attractive flowers are around 2 cm long. They later form purple coloured fleshy fruit in the form of a flattened 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'') ...
, 1 to 2 cm in diameter, ripening from September to January. As with the white beech, the fruit has a strong scent, and the aril
An aril (pronounced ), also called an arillus, is a specialized outgrowth from a seed that partly or completely covers the seed. An arillode or false aril is sometimes distinguished: whereas an aril grows from the attachment point of the see ...
quickly turns brown when exposed to the air. Stains on clothing from the flesh of this fruit are difficult to remove.
Habitat and ecology
The natural habitat is both lowland and highland rainforests of northeastern Queensland.[ The fruit are eaten by the ]wompoo fruit dove
The wompoo fruit dove (''Ptilinopus magnificus''), also known as wompoo pigeon, is one of the larger fruit doves native to New Guinea and eastern Australia.
Taxonomy and systematics
Subspecies
There are generally 7-8 recognised subspecies ...
.
Cultivation and uses
''Gmelina fasciculiflora'' has grown and flowered well in cultivation in Brisbane, where it has been planted in public parks.[ The timber is fairly soft for a hardwood and acidic. It is not resistant to termites. It is highly regarded for carving in Queensland.]
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5573729
Flora of Queensland
Trees of Australia
fasciculiflora