Vitex lignum-vitae Jagera pseudorhus fruit

''Vitex lignum-vitae'', known in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

as yellow hollywood or " lignum-vitae" (also used for other species), is a rainforest tree of eastern

. The natural range of distribution is in dry, sub-tropical or tropical rainforest from the

Richmond River, New South Wales The Richmond River is a river situated in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia. Course and features The river rises at the northern end of the Richmond Range, near its junction with the McPherson Range, on the Queensla ...

Cape York Peninsula Cape York Peninsula is a large peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest unspoiled wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth’s last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupación ...

at the northernmost tip of Australia. It also occurs in

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 ...

. ''Lignum vitae'' is

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 ...

for "wood of life".

Description

A small to medium tree growing to 30 metres tall and a trunk diameter of 90 cm. The trunk is creamy or brown, with horizontal lines and fissures. Bark sheds in small flakes. Flanged or buttressed at the base of larger trees, the bole is irregular in shape. Juvenile and coppice leaves lobed or angled. Mature leaves opposite, simple, shiny and not toothed. 5 to 13 cm long, often broader towards the tip. Leaf stalks 15 to 25 mm long, hairy and channelled on the upper side. Net veins visible on the leaf's underside. Small foveolae (raised hairy bumps) appearing at the junction of the midrib and larger lateral veins. Branchlets grey and hairy, somewhat four angled in cross section. Pale purple flowers form on

cymes 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 on ...

at various times of the year. Most often around the month of April. The fruit is red

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'') ...

, 8 to 12 mm in diameter with a round hard capsule inside. The capsule has four cells, each containing a fertile or infertile seed. Fruit ripens in the months of November to April. Fruit eaten by birds including the

green catbird The green catbird (''Ailuroedus crassirostris'') is a species of bowerbird found in subtropical forests along the east coast of Australia, from southeastern Queensland to southern New South Wales. It is named after its distinctive call which soun ...

and

rose crowned fruit dove The rose-crowned fruit dove (''Ptilinopus regina''), also known as pink-capped fruit dove or Swainson's fruit dove, is a medium-sized, up to 22 cm long, green fruit dove with a grey head and breast, an orange belly, whitish throat, yellow-or ...

. Regeneration from seed is remarkably slow and difficult. The fleshy

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 ...

should be removed from the fruit capsule. Old fruit is preferred. Roots and shoots may appear after two or more years.

References

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(other publication details, included in citation)
{{Taxonbar, from=Q7937053 Trees of Australia lignum-vitae Lamiales of Australia Flora of Queensland Flora of New South Wales Flora of New Guinea