Androcalva fraseri

Androcalva fraseri is a small tree or shrub that typically grows to {{cvt|3–9|m}} high and {{cvt|2–4|m}} wide, forms suckers and has a trunk up to {{cvt|15|cm}} in diameter. The leaves are arranged alternately along the stems, egg-shaped to broadly triangular, or broadly lance-shaped to heart-shaped, {{cvt|6–160|mm|1}} long and {{cvt|50–80|mm}} wide on a petiole up to {{cvt|15|mm|sigfig=1}} long with stipules {{cvt|2–3|mm|sigfig=1}} long at the base but that fall off as the leaves mature. The edges of the leaves are irregularly toothed, the upper surface is dull green and sparsely hairy, the lower surface covered with fine, silvery, star-shaped hairs. The flowers are white, arranged in clusters of 13 to 21 on a peduncle {{cvt|30–110|mm}} long, each flower on a pedicel {{cvt|3–8|mm|sigfig=1}} long, with bracts {{cvt|2–12|mm|sigfig=1}} long at the base. The flowers are {{cvt|6–10|mm|sigfig=1}} wide with 5 white, petal-like sepals and 5 petals, the ligule slightly longer than the sepals. There are 3 staminodes between each pair of stamens, the central one spatula-shaped and the other two linear. Flowering occurs from August to April, with a peak from September to November, and the fruit is a bristly capsule {{cvt|15-20|mm|sigfig=1}} in diameter.{{cite book |last1=Blake |first1=Trevor L. |title=Lantern bushes of Australia ; Thomasias & allied genera : a field and horticultural guide |date=2021 |publisher=Australian Plants Society, Keilor Plains Group |location=Victoria |isbn=9780646839301 |pages=108–109}}{{cite book|author1=Fairley, Alan |author2=Moore, Philip |title=Native Plants of the Sydney District:An Identification Guide |year=2000 |edition= 2nd|publisher=Kangaroo Press |page=80|location=Kenthurst, New South Wales |isbn=0-7318-1031-7}}{{cite web |last1=Harden |first1=Gwen J. |last2=Orme |first2=Andrew E. |title=Androcalva frseri |url=https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Androcalva~fraseri |publisher=Royal Botanic Garden Sydney |access-date=13 April 2023}}{{cite journal |last1=Benson |first1=Doug |last2=McDougall |first2=Lyn |title=Ecology of Sydney plant species Part 8: Dicotyledon families Rutaceae to Zygophyllaceae |journal=Cunninghamia |date=2001 |volume=7 |issue=2 |page=388 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/269919#page/236/mode/1up |access-date=13 April 2023}}

The French naturalist Jaques Étienne Gay was the first to formally describe the species in 1823. He gave it the name Commersonia fraseri and published the description in the journal, Mémoires du Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle from specimens collected by Charles Fraser.{{cite web|title=Commersonia fraseri|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/487915|publisher=APNI|access-date=22 February 2020}}{{cite journal |last1=Gay |first1=Jaques E. |title=Fragment d'une monographie des vraies Buttneriacées |journal=Mémoires du Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle |date=1823 |volume=10 |pages=215–216 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/23443#page/245/mode/1up |access-date=22 February 2020}}

A 2011 molecular analysis of segments of chloroplast DNA found that the genera Commersonia and Rulingia formed a monophyletic group but that the member species were intermingled, and split out into two hitherto unrecognised clades.{{cite journal|author1=Whitlock, Barbara A. |author2=Hale, Amanda M. |author3=Indorf, Jane L. |author4=Wilkins, Carolyn F. |year=2011|title=Polyphyly of Rulingia and Commersonia (Lasiopetaleae, Malvaceae s.l.)|journal=Australian Systematic Botany|volume=24|issue=5|pages= 215–25|doi=10.1071/SB09030}} In 2011, Carolyn Wilkins and Barbara Whitlock transferred the species to Androcalva as A. fraseri.{{cite web|title=Androcalva fraseri|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/726931|publisher=APNI|access-date=22 February 2020}}{{cite journal|author1=Wilkins, Carolyn F. |author2=Whitlock, Barbara A. |year=2011|title=A new Australian genus, Androcalva, separated from Commersonia (Malvaceae s.l. or Byttneriaceae)|journal=Australian Systematic Botany|volume=24|issue=5|pages=284–349|doi=10.1071/SB10032}}

The specific epithet honours Charles Fraser, the collector of the type specimens and an early New South Wales colonial botanist.{{cite web|url=http://www.anbg.gov.au/gnp/gnp10/commersonia-fraseri.html|title=Growing Native Plants: Commersonia fraseri|last=Lodder|first=Mark |date=16 December 2003|publisher=Australian National Botanic Gardens, Australian Government|access-date=8 December 2011|location=Canberra, Australian Capital Territory}}

Androcalva fraseri is found in rainforest and wet eucalypt forest along and east of the Great Dividing Range in New South Wales and southeastern Queensland. In the latter habitat, it is associated with trees, such as rough-barked apple (Angophora floribunda), turpentine (Syncarpia glomulifera), and Sydney blue gum (Eucalyptus saligna). A fast-growing plant, it is able to colonise disturbed ground, particularly areas where vegetation has been partly cleared such as under power lines.

This species is an adult host plant for the chrysomelid beetle Podagra submetallica.{{cite journal|author=Hawkeswood, Trevor J.|year=2005|title=Three new host plants for the Australian leaf beetle Podagrica submetallica (Blackburn, 1894) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Alticinae)|journal=Calodema|volume=4|pages=19–22|url=http://www.calodema.com/freefiles/291.pdf|access-date=2011-12-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120423181633/http://www.calodema.com/freefiles/291.pdf|archive-date=2012-04-23|url-status=dead}}

Androcalva fraseri has been propagated readily from cuttings taken in winter, and grows better with extra moisture in cultivation.

{{Reflist}}

{{Commonscat}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q17579647}}

Category:Malvales of Australia

Category:Flora of New South Wales

Category:Flora of Queensland

Category:Trees of Australia

Category:Plants described in 1823

fraseri

Category:Taxa named by Jaques Étienne Gay