''Lasjia grandis'', also known as the satin silky oak or Barong nut, is a species of forest tree in the protea family that 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 north-eastern

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 , establishe ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

. Its conservation status is considered to be Vulnerable under Queensland's

Nature Conservation Act 1992 The ''Nature Conservation Act 1992'' is an act of the Parliament of Queensland, Australia, that, together with subordinate legislation, provides for the legislative protection of Queensland's threatened biota. As originally published, it pro ...

History

The tree was first described in 1993 in the

journal A journal, from the Old French ''journal'' (meaning "daily"), may refer to: *Bullet journal, a method of personal organization *Diary, a record of what happened over the course of a day or other period *Daybook, also known as a general journal, a ...

Australian Systematic Botany ''Australian Systematic Botany'' is an international peer-reviewed scientific journal published by CSIRO Publishing. It is devoted to publishing original research, and sometimes review articles, on topics related to systematic botany, such as bio ...

'' by Caroline Gross and Bernard Hyland as a species of ''

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 ...

'', but was transferred in 2008 in the ''

American Journal of Botany The ''American Journal of Botany'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal which covers all aspects of plant biology. It has been published by the Botanical Society of America since 1914. The journal has an impact factor of 3.038, as of 201 ...

'' by Peter Weston and Austin Mast to the new genus ''Lasjia''.

Description

The leaves are 8–23 cm long by 2–6 cm wide. The terminal buds are covered in rust-brown coloured hairs. The cream to yellow flowers grow as

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 with curved bracts. The globular fruits are 5–6 cm in diameter.

Distribution and habitat

The species occurs in lowland

tropical rainforest Tropical rainforests are rainforests that occur in areas of tropical rainforest climate in which there is no dry season – all months have an average precipitation of at least 60 mm – and may also be referred to as ''lowland equatori ...

in the China Camp ( Bloomfield) region from near sea level to an altitude of 450 m.

References

grandis Grandis may refer to: * Grandis (company), a company producing magnetoresistive random-access memory * Grandis (company), a company producing High quality Italian racing bicycles * Grandis (surname) * Mitsubishi Grandis, a large multi-purpose vehic ...

Flora of Queensland Endemic flora of Australia Proteales of Australia Taxa named by Bernard Hyland Plants described in 1993 {{Australia-eudicot-stub