Bertya polystigma
{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}}
{{use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{Speciesbox
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| image = Bertya polystigma.jpg
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| genus = Bertya
| species = polystigma
| authority = Grüning{{cite web |title=Bertya polystigma |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/114997 |publisher=Australian Plant Census |access-date=28 February 2025}}
| range_map = Bertya polystigma DistMap20.png
| range_map_caption = Occurrence data from the Australasian Virtual Herbarium
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Bertya polystigma is a species of flowering plant in the family Euphorbiaceae and is endemic to Queensland. It is a monoecious shrub with many branches, strap-like to narrowly oblong leaves, flowers borne singly or rarely in pairs, and elliptic capsules with a light brown to reddish-brown seed.
Description
Bertya polystigma is a monoecious shrub that typically grows to a height of up to {{cvt|3|m}} and has many branches. Its leaves are strap-like to narrowly oblong, {{cvt|18–54|mm}} long and {{cvt|2.4–5.3|mm}} wide on a petiole {{cvt|1.2–4.5|mm}} long. The upper surface of the leaves is green with a few star-shaped hairs, and the lower surface is white and densely covered with star-shaped hairs. The flowers are borne singly or rarely in pairs in leaf axils on a peduncle {{cvt|1–4|mm}} long. There are four to six strap-like to egg-shaped outer bracts {{cvt|2.5–3.5|mm}} long and {{cvt|0.9–1.4|mm}} wide and shorter inner bracts. Male flowers are on a pedicel {{cvt|0.5–1|mm}} long with five light green, oblong sepal lobes {{cvt|4.5–5.1|mm}} long and {{cvt|2.5–2.9|mm}} wide and have 57 to 73 stamens. Female flowers are sessile or on a short pedicel with five light green sepal lobes that are narrowly egg-shaped to egg-shaped, {{cvt|0.9–3.1|mm}} long and {{cvt|1.0–1.6|mm}} wide. Female flowers usually have no petals, the ovary is oval and {{cvt|1.0–1.3|mm}} long and {{cvt|0.9–1.|mm}} wide, and the style is {{cvt|0.3|mm}} long with three or four spreading pale yellow or red limbs {{cvt|2.4–3.5|mm}} long, each with three to five lobes {{cvt|1.3–3.0|mm}} long. Flowering has been recorded from October to July, and the fruit is an elliptic capsule {{cvt|5.9–7.1|mm}} long and {{cvt|3.5–3.8|mm}} wide with a single oblong light brown to reddeish-brown seed {{cvt|5.0–5.2|mm}} long and {{cvt|2.7–2.8|mm}} wide with a creamy-white caruncle.{{cite journal |last1=Halford |first1=David A. |last2=Henderson |first2=Rodney John Francis |title=Studies in Euphorbiaceae A.L.Juss. sens. lat. 3. A revision of Bertya Planch. (Ricinocarpeae Mull.Arg., Bertyinae Mull.Arg.). |journal=Austrobaileya |date=2002 |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=226–227 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/281467#page/55/mode/1up |access-date=21 April 2025}}
Taxonomy
Bertya polystigma was first formally described in 1913 by Georg Grüning in Engler's Das Pflanzenreich from specimens collected by Ludwig Diels on Walshs Pyramid.{{cite web |title=Bertya polystigma |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/rest/instance/apni/549224|publisher=Australian Plant Name Index |access-date=21 April 2025}}
Distribution and habitat
This species of Bertya grows in woodland or forest between the Windsor Tablelands and Ravenshoe in north Queensland.
Conservation status
Bertya polystigma is listed as of "least concern" under the Queensland Government Nature Conservation Act 1992.{{cite web |title=Species profile—Bertya polystigma |url=https://apps.des.qld.gov.au/species-search/details/?id=11324|publisher=Queensland Government Department of Education and Science |access-date=21 April 2025}}