''Athertonia'' is a

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

of plants in the family Proteaceae. The sole described

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

is ''Athertonia diversifolia'', commonly known as Atherton oak, athertonia, creamy silky oak or white oak. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to a small part of the

Wet Tropics of Queensland 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 ...

, Australia. A relative of the

macadamia ''Macadamia'' is a genus of four species of trees in the flowering plant family Proteaceae. They are indigenous to Australia, native to northeastern New South Wales and central and southeastern Queensland specifically. Two species of the genus ...

, it has potential in

horticulture Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

and the bushfood industry.

Description

''Athertonia diversifolia'' is a tree growing up to tall, the trunk may be fluted and may be

buttressed A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral (si ...

. New shoots and young branches are densely covered in fine rust-coloured hairs. The leaf morphology is highly variable − from a simple

elliptic In mathematics, an ellipse is a plane curve surrounding two focal points, such that for all points on the curve, the sum of the two distances to the focal points is a constant. It generalizes a circle, which is the special type of ellipse in ...

shape to deeply

lobed 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 ...

, and they may be with or without finely toothed margins. The overall leaf size also varies considerably, from up to . The petiole measures between long. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...

is a pendulous raceme up to long, produced terminally, in the leaf axils, and on the branches. The fragrant flowers are cream to green with 4

tepal A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of very ...

s, and measure up to long. The fruit is green while developing − at maturity it is a blue (or occasionally rose coloured) lens-shaped drupe measuring around long, wide and thick. The hard, pitted

endocarp Fruit anatomy is the plant anatomy of the internal structure of fruit. Fruits are the mature ovary or ovaries of one or more flowers. They are found in three main anatomical categories: aggregate fruits, multiple fruits, and simple fruits. Aggr ...

contains a single seed.

Phenology

Flowering occurs from February to June, and fruit ripen around August to January.

Taxonomy

''Athertonia diversifolia'' was first described in 1918 as ''Helicia diversifolia'' by the Queensland Government botanist

Cyril Tenison White Cyril Tenison ("C.T.") White (17 August 1890 – 15 August 1950) was an Australian botanist. Early life White was born in Brisbane to Henry White, a trade broker, and Louisa ''nee'' Bailey. He attended school at South Brisbane State School, a ...

in his paper ''Contribution to the Queensland FLora'', published in the journal Botany Bulletin. Decades later, in 1955, the Dutch botanist

Hermann Otto Sleumer Hermann Otto Sleumer (February 21, 1906 in Saarbrücken – October 1, 1993 in Oegstgeest) was a Dutch botanist of German birth. The plant genera ''Sleumerodendron'' Virot (Proteaceae) and ''Sleumeria'' Utteridge, Nagam. & Teo (Icacinaceae The I ...

placed it in the genus ''

Hicksbeachia ''Hicksbeachia'' is a genus of two species of trees in the family Proteaceae. They are native to rainforests of northern New South Wales and southeastern Queensland. They are commonly known as red bopple nut or beef nut due to the bright red col ...

'', where it stayed until 1975 when

Lawrie Johnson Lawrence Alexander Sidney Johnson Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, FAA, (26 June 1925 – 1 August 1997) known as Lawrie Johnson, was an Australian Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic botany, botanist. He worked at the Royal Botanic Garden ...

and Barbara Briggs revised the description and created a new genus, ''Athertonia'', for this plant.

Etymology

The

name is a reference to the Atherton Tablelands, where the

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular 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 anchor or centralizes th ...

was collected. The species epithet is derived from the Latin words ''diverto'' (to differ), and ''folia'' (leaf), and refers to the varied leaf morphology it displays.

Vernacular names

The common names "Atherton oak", "silky oak" and "white oak" are given to this species as a reference to the similarity of its leaves to those of the unrelated

English oak ''Quercus robur'', commonly known as common oak, pedunculate oak, European oak or English oak, is a species of flowering plant in the beech and oak family, Fagaceae. It is a large tree, native plant, native to most of Europe west of the Caucasus ...

(''Quercus robur'').

Distribution and habitat

''Athertonia diversifolia'' is found in north Queensland from the Cape Tribulation area south to the Atherton Tablelands west of

Mount Bartle Frere Mount Bartle Frere (pronunciation �mæɔnt̥ ˈbɐːɾəɫ ˈfɹɪə Ngajanji: Choorechillum) is the highest mountain in Queensland at an elevation of . The mountain was named after Sir Henry Bartle Frere, a British colonial administrator and ...

. It grows in rainforest, generally on deep soils of volcanic origin. The altitudinal range is mostly from around , but confirmed observations have been made in lowland forest at just above sea level in the Cow Bay area.

Ecology

The kernel contained within the hard endocarp of this species is edible to humans, and is also much sought after by native rats, which often gnaw through the hard shell and eat the kernel while it is still attached to the tree. The flowers attract a variety of nectar-eating birds.

Conservation

Much of the original habitat of the Atherton oak has been cleared, and what is left is highly fragmented. Despite this the species has been given the classification of

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 ...

, by both the

Queensland Government The Queensland Government is the democratic administrative authority of the Australian state of Queensland. The Government of Queensland, a parliamentary constitutional monarchy was formed in 1859 as prescribed in its Constitution, as amended f ...

Department of Environment and Science (DES), and 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 nat ...

(IUCN). Whilst the DES does not publish its procedure or qualification details, the IUCN's assessment states that the population of this species is "locally common and stable", and that the "area, extent and/or quality" of its habitat is not declining.

Uses

The Atherton oak has become widely cultivated, due to its attractive, glossy, lobed foliage, and its low maintenance.

Gallery

File:Athertonia-diversifolia-1-Australasian-Virtual-Herbarium-CC-BY.jpg, Ripe blue fruit File:Athertonia-diversifolia-4-Australasian-Virtual-Herbarium-CC-BY.jpg, Rose-coloured fruit File:Athertonia-diversifolia-2-Australasian-Virtual-Herbarium-CC-BY.jpg, Foliage File:Athertonia-diversifolia-5-Australasian-Virtual-Herbarium-CC-BY.jpg, The inflorescence File:Athertonia diversifolia 237508998.jpg, New growth File:Athertonia-diversifolia-SF23031-01.jpg, The endoncarp, after being gnawed by native rats to access the seed. File:Athertonia diversifolia 237508950.jpg, Underside of the leaf File:Athertonia diversifolia 224175498.jpg, Fruit with partially eaten kernel

References

External links

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View a map
of historical sightings 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 amalgama ...

View observations
of this species on

iNaturalist iNaturalist is a social network of naturalists, citizen scientists, and biologists built on the concept of mapping and sharing observations of biodiversity across the globe. iNaturalist may be accessed via its website or from its mobile applic ...

View images
of this species on Flickriver {{Taxonbar, from1=Q5224696, from2=Q2869046 Proteaceae Trees of Australia Ornamental trees Endemic flora of Queensland Plants described in 1918 Proteales of Australia Monotypic Proteaceae genera Taxa named by Barbara G. Briggs Taxa named by Cyril Tenison White Wet Tropics of Queensland