''Oxera splendida'' is an evergreen vine in the family

Lamiaceae The Lamiaceae ( ) or Labiatae are a family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint, deadnettle or sage family. Many of the plants are aromatic in all parts and include widely used culinary herbs like basil, mint, rosemary, sage, savory ...

which produces white, fragrant flowers and white, egg-shaped fruit. It naturally is occurs in the tropical rain forests of tropical Asia and Australia and is often sighted along rain forest margins such as roads. Some common names include October Glory, Glory Vine, Potato Vine and Fragrant Faradaya. Australian indigenous names include ''Garanggal'' used from Cairns to Yarrabah, ''Buku'' used in the Tully River area, ''Koie-yan'' used at Dunk Island and ''Djungeen'' used by the

Girramay The Girramay are an Australian Aboriginal tribe of northern Queensland. Name The Girramay ethnonym is formed from ''jir:a'', meaning "man". Language The Girramay spoke the most southerly dialect of Dyirbal. Country The Girramay people's tradi ...

clan.

Description

This woody, twining, evergreen,

vine A vine (Latin ''vīnea'' "grapevine", "vineyard", from ''vīnum'' "wine") is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent (that is, climbing) stems, lianas or runners. The word ''vine'' can also refer to such stems or runners themselv ...

can grow up to in diameter. The ovate, glossy green leaves can grow to long and wide and are attached to the stem in pairs or triples with petioles up to long. It flowers and fruits in the warmer months from August to April. The white, fragrant flowers are abundant but short lived, sometimes lasting only a single day. Each flower measures about 4.5 cm in diameter. The fruit is white and fleshy, about long and in diameter and resembles a potato or large egg. It contains a single large seed with a rough brown seed coating thick.

Taxonomy

The species was first described as ''Faradaya splendida'' in 1865 by Victorian government 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 ...

in '' Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae'', based on plant material collected by

John Dallachy John Dallachy (c. 1808 – 4 June 1871) was a curator of Melbourne Botanic Gardens and a plant collector. Dallachy was born in Elginshire, Scotland. He worked as a gardener for the Earl of Aberdeen and Kew Gardens. In 1847, he went to Ceylon to ma ...

near

Rockingham Bay Rockingham Bay is a bay in Far North Queensland, Australia. The bay opens onto the Coral Sea, part of the South Pacific Ocean. Adjacent to the bay is the Girramay National Park, south of which is the town of Cardwell. Goold Island is a smal ...

. This was the first species to be included in the genus

Faradaya ''Faradaya'' is a genus of plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae, first described in 1865 by Victorian government botanist Ferdinand von Mueller in '' Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae''. Following a revision of the genera ''Oxera'', ''Clerodendr ...

. In 2015 a revision of the genera ''Oxera'', ''Clerodendrum'', ''Faradaya'', and ''Hosea'' resulted in ''Faradaya'' being moved to ''Oxera''.

Distribution and habitat

The species occurs in

Sulawesi Sulawesi (), also known as Celebes (), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sulu Ar ...

, the

Moluccas The Maluku Islands (; Indonesian: ''Kepulauan Maluku'') or the Moluccas () are an archipelago in the east of Indonesia. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located eas ...

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

, the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...

and

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_ ...

. It can be found in rain forest, hill forest and swamp forest from sea level to 2000m. The tolerant vine can grow in clay and humus, and can inhabit both undisturbed,

primary forest An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological featur ...

and previously disturbed,

secondary forests A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a timber harvest or clearing for agriculture, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident. ...

. It is common to see the white fruited vine along rain forest margins such as roads.

Ecology

For several Australian butterflies, this species is a larval food plant. Those butterflies include

Pseudodipsas eone ''Pseudodipsas'' is a genus of butterflies in the family Lycaenidae with six species, two of which are unnamed.

, Hypochrysops miskini, Shining Oak-blue,

Hypolycaena phorbas ''Hypolycaena phorbas'' is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is found in Waigeo, Biak, Roon Island, mainland New Guinea and various outlying islands as well as Australia. The wingspan is about 30 mm. Adults are brown on top. The fore ...

and Pale ciliate blue. For at least ''P. eone'', this butterfly will seek out ''Oxera splendida'' leaves specifically for the

extrafloral nectaries Nectar is a sugar-rich liquid produced by plants in glands called nectaries or nectarines, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollination, pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to anim ...

. The nectaries found on the leaves produce nectare and ''P. eone'' will only feed one leaves with this characteristic. The

Spectacled flying fox The spectacled flying fox (''Pteropus conspicillatus''), also known as the spectacled fruit bat, is a megabat that lives in Australia's north-eastern regions of Queensland. It is also found in New Guinea and on the offshore islands including Wood ...

is a frugivore that eats ''O. splendida'' but is too small to consume and disperse the seed internally. It may disperse the fruit short distances by carrying the fruit. The much larger

Southern cassowary The southern cassowary (''Casuarius casuarius''), also known as double-wattled cassowary, Australian cassowary or two-wattled cassowary, is a large flightless black bird. It is one of the three living species of cassowary, alongside the dwarf c ...

also feeds on the fruit (it is one of the largest that the cassowary can ingest) and it disperses the seeds over large distances. The fruit and seed of this plant are both consumed by the

Musky rat-kangaroo The musky rat-kangaroo (''Hypsiprymnodon moschatus'') is a small marsupial found only in the rainforests of northeastern Australia. First described in the later 19th century, the only other species are known from fossil specimens. They are simi ...

. The rat-kangaroo is too small to swallow the seed whole but will chew at it. This species is one of the prominent vine species that thrive in heavily cyclone damaged forest, otherwise known as cyclone scrub. These areas of forest tend to have a low, uneven canopy level due to damage from local intensification of cyclonic winds where several vine species will grow into the canopy.

Uses

''Oxera splendida'' is grown as a decorative plant in gardens. Its flowers are attractive and have a pleasant fragrance. When provided with plenty of sunlight and water, the vine is hardy and grows vigorously. For the Australian Aboriginal

clan, the ''Djungeen'' vine is an

indicator plant A bioindicator is any species (an indicator species) or group of species whose function, population, or status can reveal the qualitative status of the environment. The most common indicator species are animals. For example, copepods and other sma ...

. When the egg-like fruit falls to the ground in October, Bush Turkey nests will have eggs in them. Another aboriginal use is to poison fish. The outer bark is removed and the middle layer of the bark is scraped off, then rubbed onto a hot stone. When the stone is thrown into a creek or small lagoon, all marine animals in the water are poisoned and death occurs within an hour. A sapotoxin is found in the leaves, stems and roots of the plant which is an effective fish poison. It will readily dissolve in water and is effective even in low concentrations. Based on a word of mouth report, the fruit is said to be edible but is not desired.

Gallery

File:Oxera-spendida-fruit-SF20305.jpg, Fruit File:Oxera-spendida-stem-SF20281.jpg, Vine stem coiled on forest floor File:Oxera-spendida-leaves-SF20305.jpg, Leaves File:Oxera-spendida-infloresence-SF20281.jpg, Inflorescence File:Oxera-spendida-flower-SF20305.jpg, Flower

References

External links

''Faradaya splendida'' photo collection on Flickr

Image of Faraday splendida growing on the State Library of Queensland, Brisbane
{{Taxonbar, from1=Q43374870, from2=Q14860069 Lamiaceae Flora of Borneo Flora of Sulawesi Flora of the Maluku Islands Flora of Papuasia Flora of Queensland Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller