Harpullia frutescens

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Harpullia frutescens
File:Harpullia frutescens.jpg
Fruit in Tully Gorge National Park
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Sapindales
Family: Sapindaceae
Genus: Harpullia
Species:
H. frutescens
Binomial name
Harpullia frutescens
File:Harpullia frutescensDistA7.png
Occurrence data from AVH
Synonyms[1]
List
    • Harpullia frutescens F.M.Bailey isonym
    • Harpullia holoptera Radlk.
    • Harpullia marginata Radlk. nom. inval., nom. nud.
    • Harpullia alata auct. non F.Muell.: Mueller, F.J.H. von (1875)
File:Harpfrutescens.JPG
Foliage, showing winged petiole

Harpullia frutescens, commonly known as dwarf harpullia,[2] is a species of flowering plant in the family Sapindaceae, and is endemic to North Queensland. It is a shrub with paripinnate leaves with 6 to 8 leaflets, white flowers with a pink tinge, and crimson capsules containing 2 seeds with a yellow aril.

Description

Harpullia frutescens is a shrub that typically grows to a height of up to 1–2 m (3 ft 3 in – 6 ft 7 in), its young growth covered with downy hairs. Its leaves are paripinnate, 45–185 mm (1.8–7.3 in) long with 6 to 8 elliptic to lance shaped leaflets sometimes tapering to a point, 75–170 mm (3.0–6.7 in) long and 25–50 mm (0.98–1.97 in) wide on a winged petiole 35–85 mm (1.4–3.3 in) long. The flowers are strongly perfumed, borne in clusters of mostly 2 to 4 in upper leaf axils 30–120 mm (1.2–4.7 in) long, each flower on a slender, hairy peduncle up to 5 mm (0.20 in) long. The sepals are 7–8 mm (0.28–0.31 in) long and covered with downy hairs, the petals are white with a pink tinge, and 15–20 mm (0.59–0.79 in) long. There are 5 or 6 stamens, and the ovary covered with woolly hairs. The fruit is a laterally compressed, crimson capsule about 12–16 mm (0.47–0.63 in) long containing two shiny seeds, enclosed in a yellow, cup-shaped aril.[2][3][4]

Taxonomy

Harpullia frutescens was first formally described in 1889 by Frederick Manson Bailey in a report on the Government Scientific Expedition to the Bellenden-Ker Range.[5][6] The specific epithet (frutescens) means "becoming bushy".[7]

Distribution and habitat

Dwarf harpullia is common in rainforest from Ayton to the Atherton Tableland area in North Queensland, usually in hilly country.[3][8]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 "Harpullia frutescens". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 14 July 2024.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Reynolds, Sally T. "Harpullia frutescens". Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water: Canberra. Retrieved 14 July 2024.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Reynolds, Sally T. (1981). "Notes on Sapindaceae in Australia, I." Austrobaileya. 1 (4): 415. Retrieved 14 July 2024.
  4. "Harpullia frutescens". Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants. Retrieved 14 July 2024.
  5. "Harpullia frutescens". APNI. Retrieved 14 July 2024.
  6. Bailey, Frederick M. (1889). "Report of the government scientific expedition to the Bellenden- Ker range upon the flora and fauna of that part of the colony". Votes and Proceedings of the Legislative Assembly during the Session of 1889: 36. Retrieved 14 July 2024.
  7. George, Alex; Sharr, Francis (2021). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings (4th ed.). Kardinya, WA: Four Gables Press. p. 202. ISBN 9780958034180.
  8. Elliot, Rodger W.; Jones, David L.; Blake, Trevor (1990). Encyclopaedia of Australian Plants Suitable for Cultivation: Vol. 5. Port Melbourne: Lothian Press. pp. 254–55. ISBN 0-85091-285-7.