Commersonia bartramia
{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}}
{{Speciesbox
| name = Brown kurrajong
| genus = Commersonia
| species = bartramia
| image = Commerson bartram 070601-013 ipb.JPG
| image_caption = Commersonia bartramia in West Java
| authority = (L.) Merr.{{cite web|title=Commersonia bartramia|url= https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/74945|publisher=Australian Plant Census|access-date=10 December 2020}}
| synonyms = {{collapsible list |
- Byttneria caledonica Turcz.
- Commerconia echinata F.Muell. orth. var.
- Commersonia echinata J.R.Forst. & G.Forst. nom. illeg., nom. superfl.
- Commersonia echinata var. bancroftii F.M.Bailey
- Commersonia echinata J.R.Forst. & G.Forst. var. echinata
- Commersonia echinata var. javana Miq. ex Gagnep.
- Commersonia echinata var. platyphylla (Andrews) Gagnep.
- Commersonia javensis G.Don
- Commersonia platyphylla Andrews
- Commersonia platyphylla β lechenaultii DC.
- Muntingia bartramia L.
- Restiaria alba Rumph.
- Restiaria echinata (J.R.Forst. & G.Forst.) Kuntze
}}
}}
Commersonia bartramia, commonly known as brown kurrajong,{{cite web |last1=Harden |first1=Gwen J. |title=Commersonia bartramia |url=https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Commersonia~bartramia |publisher=Royal Botanic Garden Sydney |access-date=10 December 2020}} is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae and is native to Southeast Asia, the Northern Territory, Queensland and New South Wales. It is a tree or shrub with heart-shaped to egg-shaped leaves much paler on the lower surface, and sometimes with fine, irregular teeth on the edges.
Description
Commersonia bartramia is a shrub or tree that typically grows to a height of up to {{cvt|25|m}}, the trunk up to {{cvt|50|cm}} in diameter and sometimes forming buttress roots. The leaves are heart-shaped to egg-shaped or broadly egg-shaped, {{cvt|50–140|mm}} long and {{cvt|10–20|mm}} wide on a densely hairy petiole {{cvt|10–30|mm}} long with stipules {{cvt|2–6|mm}} long at the base. The tip of the leaf tapers to a fine point, there are sometimes fine, irregular teeth on the lower surface, and the lower surface is much paler than the upper surface. The flowers are arranged in dense heads of 20 to 100 or more {{cvt|30–100|mm}} long, the groups on a peduncle {{cvt|5–25|mm}} long, each flower on pedicel {{cvt|2–7|mm}} long. The sepal are joined at the base with 5 white lobes {{cvt|1–3|mm}} long, and five white petals with ligules as long as the sepal lobes, and there is a single staminodes between each pair of stamens. Flowering occurs from October to March and the fruit is a hairy, dark capsule {{cvt|15–25|mm}} long.{{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=166–167}}
Taxonomy
Brown kurrajong was first formally described in 1759 by Carl Linnaeus who gave it the name Muntingia bartramia in Amoenitates Academicae.{{cite web|title=Muntingia bartramia|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/601996|publisher=APNI|accessdate=10 December 2020}}{{cite book |last1=Linnaeus |first1=Carl |title=Amoenitates academicae |date=1759 |publisher=Apud Godofredum Kiesewetter |location=New York |page=124 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/15496#page/127/mode/1up |access-date=10 December 2020}} In 1917, Elmer Drew Merrill changed the name to Commersonia bartramia in his book, An Interpretation of Rumphius's Herbarium Amboinense.{{cite web|title=Commersonia bartramia|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/487753|publisher=APNI|accessdate=10 December 2020}}{{cite book |last1=Merrill |first1=Elmer Drew |title=An interpretation of Rumphius's Herbarium amboinense |date=1917 |publisher=Bureau of Printing |location=Manila |pages=362–363 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/151090#page/370/mode/1up |access-date=10 December 2020}}
The specific epithet (bartramia) honours the American botanist, John Bartram.
Distribution and habitat
Commersonia bartramia grows in rainforest, and along creeks and gullies near the edges of rainforest. It is a common species in regrowth areas of rainforest and occurs from southern China to as far south as the Bellinger River in New South Wales.{{cite web |title=Commersonia bartramia |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:822821-1#distributions |publisher=Plants of the World Online |access-date=16 March 2023}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from= Q11047789}}
Category:Flora of the Northern Territory
Category:Flora of New South Wales