''Rhaphidophora petrieana'' is a plant in the arum family Araceae that is only found in the Wet Tropics bioregion 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.

Description

''Rhaphidophora petrieana'' is a semi-epiphytic, robust, herbaceous, root climber reaching about tall. The mid-green leaves are narrowly

ovate Ovate may refer to: *Ovate (egg-shaped) leaves, tepals, or other botanical parts *Ovate, a type of prehistoric stone hand axe *Ovates, one of three ranks of membership in the Welsh Gorsedd *Vates In modern English, the nouns vates () and ovat ...

to elliptic and measure up to long by wide. The inflorescence is a spadix about long, enclosed in a

spathe In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...

about long.

Taxonomy

This species was first described in 1993 by the Australian botanist

Alistair Hay Alistair Hay (born 1955) is an Australian botanist. Hay is a former director of the Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney The Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney is a heritage-listed major botanical garden, event venue and public recreation area located a ...

, and published in the journal ''Telopea''. The

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular wiktionary:en:specimen, specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to a ...

was collected by

Bruce Gray Bruce Gray (September 7, 1936 – December 13, 2017) was a Canadian actor, known for multiple roles in films and television shows for over 5 decades. Early Years Gray was born in Puerto Rico and lived in Toronto after 1949. He graduated from ...

in 1982 from a National Park reserve west of Innisfail.

Distribution and habitat

''Rhaphidophora petrieana'' occurs in rainforest from

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 ...

south to about Innisfail, at altitudes from sea level to about . There has also been isolated collections from near Lockhart River, about north of Cape Tribulation.

Conservation

This species is listed by the Queensland Government's Department of Environment, Science and Innovation as

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 ...

. , 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:Rhaphidophora petrieana ALA1.jpg, Herbarium specimen File:Rhaphidophora-petrieana-SF23061-01.jpg, Foliage File:Rhaphidophora-petrieana-SF23061-02.jpg, File:Rhaphidophora-petrieana-SF23061-04.jpg, Stem and petioles File:Rhaphidophora-petrieana-SF24037-01.jpg,

References

External links

View a map
of herbarium collections 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 ...

View observations
of this species on iNaturalist
View images
of this species on Flickriver.com {{Taxonbar, from=Q9310004 petrieana Endemic flora of Queensland Taxa named by Alistair Hay Plants described in 1993