Melicope bonwickii
{{Short description|Species of tree}}
{{Speciesbox
| name = Yellow evodia
| image = Melicope bonwickii (pink).jpg
| image_caption =
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| genus = Melicope
| species = bonwickii
| authority = (F.Muell.) T.G.Hartley{{cite web |title=Melicope bonwickii |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/159012|publisher=Australian Plant Census |accessdate= 24 July 2020}}
| synonyms = *Euodia bonwickii F.Muell.
}}
Melicope bonwickii, commonly known as the yellow evodia or yellow corkwood,{{cite web |url=https://apps.lucidcentral.org/rainforest/text/entities/Melicope_bonwickii.htm |title=Melicope bonwickii |author1=F.A.Zich |author2=B.P.M.Hyland |author3=T.Whiffen |author4=R.A.Kerrigan |author2-link=Bernard Hyland |year=2020 |website=Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants Edition 8 (RFK8) |publisher=Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research (CANBR), Australian Government |access-date=2 July 2021}} is a species of tree in the family Rutaceae and is native to Java and the Philippines, and southward to New Guinea and north-eastern Australia. It has trifoliate leaves and small pink flowers borne in panicles in leaf axils.
Description
Melicope bonwickii grows up to {{convert|40|m|-1}} tall. The leaves are trifoliate on a petiole {{cvt|30–95|mm}} long, the end leaflet egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, sessile, {{cvt|100–300|mm}} long and {{cvt|50–150|mm}} wide. The flowers are bisexual and are borne in panicles {{cvt|35–100|mm}} long, in leaf axils. The sepals are more or less round, {{cvt|1.5–2|mm}} long and joined at the base. The petals are pink, rarely white, about {{cvt|4.5|mm}} and are hairy with a ridge on the back. There are four stamens. Flowering occurs from March to June and the fruit consists of up to four follicles {{cvt|4–6|mm}} long.{{cite book |last1=Hartley |first1=Thomas G. |editor-last1=Wilson |editor-first1=Annette J.G. |title=Flora of Australia (Volume 26) |date=2013 |publisher=Australian Biological Resources Study |location=Canberra |page=98|url=https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Melicope%20bonwickii|accessdate=25 July 2020}}{{cite journal |last1=Hartley |first1=Thomas Gordon |title=On the Taxonomy and Biogeography of Euodia and Melicope (Rutaceae) |journal=Allertonia |date=February 2001 |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=182–183 |jstor=23189298 }}
Taxonomy
This species was first formally described in 1865 by Ferdinand von Mueller who gave it the name Euodia bonwickii and published the description in Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae from specimens collected by John Dallachy.{{cite web|title=Euodia bonwickii|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/477432 |publisher=APNI|accessdate=25 July 2020}}{{cite book |last1=von Mueller |first1=Ferdinand |title=Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae (Volume 5) |date=1865 |volume=5 |publisher=Victorian Government Printer |location=Melbourne |page=56 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/7222#page/64/mode/1up |accessdate=25 July 2020}} In 1994, Thomas Gordon Hartley changed the name to Melicope bonwickii in the journal Sandakania.{{cite web|title=Melicope bonwickii|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/648001 |publisher=APNI|accessdate=25 July 2020}} The specific epithet (bonwickii) honours James Bonwick.
Distribution and habitat
Melicope bonwickii occurs naturally in Java and the Philippines, and southward to New Guinea and north-eastern Australia. It grows in rainforest from sea level to an altitude of {{cvt|900|m}}. In Australia it is found from the Atherton Tableland to near Proserpine in northern Queensland.
Uses
This species is said to be used to treat dysentery in the Tanimbar Islands. It is harvested for its timber.