''Melicope elleryana'', commonly known as pink flowered doughwood, pink evodia, corkwood, or saruwa, is a species of rainforest shrub or tree in the family Rutaceae, and is

native Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and entert ...

to New Guinea, parts of eastern Indonesia, the Solomon Islands and northern Australia. It has trifoliate leaves and pink to white,

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...

flowers arranged in

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 in leaf axils.

Description

''Melicope elleryana'' is a shrub or tree that typically grows to a height of with a trunk diameter of about . The bark is pale brown and corky, especially at the base of the trunk. The leaves are arranged in opposite pairs and trifoliate on a petiole long. The leaflets are elliptical, sometimes egg-shaped, long and wide, the end leaflet on a

petiolule In botany, the petiole () is the stalk that attaches the leaf blade to the stem, and is able to twist the leaf to face the sun. This gives a characteristic foliage arrangement to the plant. Outgrowths appearing on each side of the petiole in som ...

long. The flowers are bisexual and arranged in panicles long. The sepals are round to egg-shaped, long and joined at the base. The petals are pink to white, long and there are four

stamen The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...

s. Flowering occurs from November to February and the fruit consists of up to four follicles long, containing shiny black seeds in diameter.

Taxonomy

Pink-flowered doughwood was first formally described in 1865 by

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 ...

who gave it the name ''Euodia elleryana'' and published the description in '' Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae'' from specimens collected by

Anthelme Thozet Anthelme Thozet (25 May 1826 – 31 May 1878) was a French-Australian botanist and ethnographer. Early life He was born 25 May 1826 in Chegnieu-la-Balme (Register of Contrevoz), and fled Calais for London (giving his profession as engineer) in ...

near Beddome Creek (near

Rockhampton Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. The population of Rockhampton in June 2021 was 79,967, Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. making it the fourth-largest city in the state outside of the ...

). In 1990, Thomas Gordon Hartley changed the name to ''Melicope elleryana'' in the journal '' Telopea''. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

(''elleryana'') honours the Victorian government astronomer,

Robert L. J. Ellery Robert Lewis John Ellery (14 July 1827 – 14 January 1908) was an English-Australian astronomer and public servant who served as Victorian government astronomer for 42 years. Early life Ellery was born in Cranleigh, Surrey, England, the son o ...

Habitat and distribution

''Melicope elleryana'' grows in coastal and inland forest, woodland and rainforest from sea level to an altitude of . It occurs from the Maluku Islands east to the Solomon Islands and south to New Guinea and northern Australia. In Australia it is found in the far north-east of Western Australia, the Top End of the Northern Territory, northern and eastern Queensland and south to the Clarence River in northern New South Wales.

Ecology

This tree is the favoured food plant for the Ulysses butterfly, ''

Papilio ulysses ''Papilio ulysses'', the Ulysses butterfly (also commonly known as the Blue emperor), is a large swallowtail butterfly of Australia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Its size varies depending on subspecies, but the wingspa ...

''. Germination is unpredictable, starting within 30 days or possibly taking several years. Soaking the seeds for several days appears to remove some of the germination inhibitors.

Uses

This species is often cultivated as an ornamental tree. In New Guinea it is said to be used to flavour palm wine and an exudate from the bark is used as an adhesive, for caulking canoes and as a wound treatment.

References

External links

*
View a map
of historical sightings of this species at the Australasian Virtual Herbarium
View observations
of this species on iNaturalist
View images
of this species on Flickriver {{Taxonbar, from1=Q3017521 elleryana Sapindales of Australia Flora of New South Wales Flora of Queensland Flora of Papua New Guinea Flora of Western Australia Flora of the Solomon Islands (archipelago) Flora of the Maluku Islands Plants described in 1865 Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller