''Pseuduvaria froggattii'' is a rare species of tree which is restricted to a very small part of northeastern

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_ ...

, Australia. It is a member of the custard apple and soursop family Annonaceae, and was first described in 1887. Despite the small range its status considered to be

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 ...

Description

''Pseuduvaria froggattii'' is a small

rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...

tree reaching in height and a DBH (trunk diameter) of up to . It has elliptic to

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 o ...

, membranous to papery leaves that measure up to long by wide. They are obtuse to rounded at the base and acuminate (tapering) at the tip, with the tapering portion long. They are glabrous (hairless) on their upper and lower surfaces and have 7-10 pairs of secondary veins branching from the rachis, or midrib. The hairless petiole is long with a narrow groove on the upper side. This species is

dioecious Dioecy (; ; adj. dioecious , ) is a characteristic of a species, meaning that it has distinct individual organisms (unisexual) that produce male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproductio ...

, meaning that pistilate (functionally female) and staminate (functionally male) flowers are borne on separate plants. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

s of both male and female plants are dense clusters produced from the trunk, branches and twigs. The male plants may also produce flowers in the

leaf axils A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, ste ...

, in which case the inflorescence will consist of just one or few flowers. Flowers are held on

pedicels In botany, a pedicel is a stem that attaches a single flower to the inflorescence. Such inflorescences are described as ''pedicellate''. Description Pedicel refers to a structure connecting a single flower to its inflorescence. In the absenc ...

that are minutely hairy, measure up to long, and are tapered with the thicker end attached to the flower. The individual flowers are very distinctive, with an appearance somewhat reminiscent of a jingle bell (see gallery). Each flower has 6 petals arranged in two rows, with the petals of one row alternating with the other. The inner petals are larger, with a quite narrow base but a much wider tip. They arch over the flower centre and connect to each other, forming a dome or canopy over the reproductive organs in the centre of the flower. The narrow bases of the petals ensure that there are three gaps on the sides of the dome that allow pollinators access to the

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 or stigmas. The dome measures about wide and long. The outer petals are smaller and are reflexed outwards, and since these petals alternate with the inner petals, they are thus positioned adjacent to the gaps formed by the latter. The outer petals are rounded, measuring about long by wide. The fruit are yellow or orange when ripe, obovoid to ellipsoid in shape (i.e. like a Rugby ball), and measure about long. They contain one or two

rugose Rugose means "wrinkled". It may refer to: * Rugosa, an extinct order of coral, whose rugose shape earned it the name * Rugose, adjectival form of rugae Species with "rugose" in their names * '' Idiosoma nigrum'', more commonly, a black rugose tr ...

(wrinkled) seeds.

Reproductive biology

The pollen of ''P. froggattii'' is shed as permanent tetrads. Its flowers are pollinated by flies, including Drosophilidae and dung flies.

Phytochemistry

Oils extracted from its leaves contain high levels of caryophyllene and

spathulenol Spathulenol is a tricyclic sesquiterpene alcohol which has a basic skeleton similar to the azulenes. It occurs in oregano among other plants. History and occurrence A volatile oil was extracted from waterwort distillery (''Artemisia vulgaris'') ...

Taxonomy

The species was first described by the German-born Australian 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 ...

, who gave it the name ''Mitrephora froggattii''. His description was based on plant material collected 1886 by W. Sayer and W. Froggatt from the

Mossman River The Mossman River is a river located in the Cape York Peninsula of Far North Queensland, Australia. The headwaters of the river rise under Devils Thumb on the Mount Carbine Tableland in the Great Dividing Range. The river flows through a deep ...

, and was published in January 1887 in the ''Australasian Journal of Pharmacy''. In 1986 the Australian botanist Laurence W. Jessup gave the species the new combination ''Pseuduvaria froggattii'', which was published in a brief one page paper in the journal of the Queensland Herbarium '' Austrobaileya''. This was followed by a formal description published in 1987, also in ''Austrobaileya''.

Etymology

The genus name ''Pseuduvaria'' is derived from a combination of the Ancient Greek word '' pseúdō'', meaning "false", and the name of the related genus ''

Uvaria ''Uvaria'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Annonaceae. The generic name ''uvaria'' is derived from the Latin ''uva'' meaning grape, likely because the edible fruit of some species in the genus resemble grapes. Circumscription Specie ...

''. The species epithet ''froggattii'' was given by Mueller to honour Froggatt as one of the collectors of specimens he examined.

Distribution and habitat

This species is restricted to a small part of Queensland's

Wet Tropics 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 ...

, from Melissa Creek near

Cape Tribulation Cape Tribulation is a headland and coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas in northern Queensland, Australia. In the , Cape Tribulation had a population of 118 people. Geography The locality is north of Cairns. It is within the Daintree Na ...

in the north, to the area around Black Mountain, southwest of Port Douglas. The total area of occupancy of this species is just with 145 observation records. It grows as an understory tree in

on a variety of soil types including loose mixtures, moist substrates, loams and rocky soils in mature rainforests at elevations of 5-60 meters.

Ecology

''Pseuduvaria froggattii'' is the host species for the

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. The ...

e of the green-spotted triangle and pale green triangle

butterflies Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

. The fruits are eaten by

cassowaries Cassowaries ( tpi, muruk, id, kasuari) are flightless birds of the genus ''Casuarius'' in the order Casuariiformes. They are classified as ratites (flightless birds without a keel (bird anatomy), keel on their sternum bones) and are native t ...

Conservation

This species is listed by the Queensland Department of Environment and Science as

. , it has not been assessed by the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

(IUCN).

Gallery

File:Pseuduvaria-froggattii-SF22229-04.jpg, Foliage File:Pseuduvaria-froggattii-SF22229-02.jpg, Inflorescence File:Pseuduvaria-froggattii-SF22229-01.jpg, Close up of flowers File:Pseuduvaria-froggattii-SF23327-02.jpg, Ripe and immature fruit File:Pseuduvaria froggattii trunk SF21001.jpg, Stem

References

External links

* *
View a map
of historical observations 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 amalgamat ...

See images
of this species on Flickriver
View observations
of this species on iNaturalist {{Taxonbar, from=Q15365556 froggattii Flora of Queensland Endemic flora of Australia Plants described in 1887 Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller