Dansiea grandiflora
{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}}
{{Use Australian English|date=August 2024}}
{{Speciesbox
| image =
| genus = Dansiea
| species = grandiflora
| authority = Pedley
| synonyms =
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Dansiea grandiflora is a species of rainforest tree that is endemic to Queensland, Australia. It is known to exist only within a limited zone of notophyll vine forest on Cape York Peninsula. It is listed as ‘Vulnerable’ under the Queensland Nature Conservation Act (1992).{{cite web |title=Flora of Australia |url= https://www.awe.gov.au/sites/default/files/env/pages/46fedc25-deed-4737-b47b-b1ec894aaa33/files/flora-australia-18-podostemaceae-combretaceae.pdf |website=Australian Department of Agriculture Water and the Environment |access-date=14 November 2021 |language=en}}
{{Citation | author1=Bureau of Flora and Fauna | author2=George, Alexander S. (Alexander Segger), 1939- | title=Flora of Australia : Volume 18 : Podostemaceae to Combretaceae | year=1990 | publication-date=1990 | pages=326, 262 | publisher=Australian Government Publishing Service | isbn= 0-644-10472-4}}{{cite web |title= Species profile—Dansiea grandiflora |url= https://apps.des.qld.gov.au/species-search/details/?id=12177 |website=Queensland Department of Environment and Science|date = 20 October 2014|access-date=11 November 2021 |language=en}}
One of only two species in the Dansiea genus along with Dansiea elliptica, Dansiea grandiflora was first described by Leslie Pedley in Flora of Australia Volume 18 (1990) from a specimen in relatively poor condition. Paul Irwin Forster later collected higher quality specimens from which he provided an amplified botanical description of the species in 1994.{{cite journal |last1=Forster |first1=Paul|date=1994 |title= Notes on Dansiea Byrnes and Macropteranthes F. Muell. (Combretaceae) |volume=4 |issue=2 |journal=Austrobaileya |location=Australia | publisher=Queensland Herbarium |pages=149, 153 |doi=10.5962/p.365804 |issn=0155-4131 |doi-access=free }} The genus name honours Sam Dansie (1927–2012), an Australian forester and plant collector.{{cite book | last=Burkhardt | first=Lotte | title=Verzeichnis eponymischer Pflanzennamen – Erweiterte Edition |trans-title=Index of Eponymic Plant Names – Extended Edition | publisher=Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum, Freie Universität Berlin | year=2018 | isbn=978-3-946292-26-5 | url=https://doi.org/10.3372/epolist2018 |format=pdf |language=German |location=Berlin | doi=10.3372/epolist2018 | s2cid=187926901 |access-date=1 January 2021}}
Description
Dansiea grandiflora is a tree that grows up to {{Convert|10|m|ft|abbr=on}} high. It has bark that is whitish in tone and lacks any significant distinguishing features. Its branches sit erect bearing petiolate leaves with upper and lower surfaces of different colours. The leaves initially feature adpressed trichomes but later become glabrescent except for upon the midrib below.
The petiole is {{Convert|2|-|10|mm|abbr=on}} long and approximately {{Convert|1|mm|in|abbr=on}} wide. The leaf blade can be oblong, elliptic or obovate and is sized approximately {{Convert|13|-|60|mm|abbr=on}} long and {{Convert|8|-|30|mm|abbr=on}} wide. The form of its tip can be acute to obtuse (occasionally minutely apiculate) whilst its base is cuneate.
The flowers are zygomorphic and 25–30 mm long with very short axillary peduncles approximately 5–10 mm long. The Calyx is 18–20 mm long featuring dense adpressed trichomes and orbicular bracteoles 15–16 mm in diameter that are attached to the lower half. The petals have a broad ovate form with a size approximately 6 mm long by 6 mm wide and are hairless apart from trichomes up to 0.3 mm long upon their margin. The stamens are inserted in the calyx tube in 2 series with a small appendage at the base of the filaments within the inner whorl. The outer filaments of the flowers are 5–6 mm long whilst the inner filaments are 6–7 mm long supporting oblong anthers which are 1.8–2 mm long and approximately 1.2 mm wide. The style is 8–10 mm long and the ovary is 10–11 mm long with a dense covering of trichomes.
Distribution and habitat
Dansiea grandiflora is known only from the Kennedy Hill area on Bromley Station, Cape York Peninsula. It grows in notophyll vineforest on soils derived from granite, both along semi-pemianent watercourses and on adjacent ridges close to the sea.