Melicope rubra
{{Short description|Species of plant in the family Rutaceae}}
{{Use Australian English|date=February 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2024}}
{{Speciesbox
|name = Little evodia
|image = Melicope-rubra-SF24050-02.jpg
|image_caption = Mature tree in Cairns
|status = LC
|status_system = QLDNCA
|status_ref = {{R|DESQLD}}
|genus = Melicope
|species = rubra
|authority = (Lauterb. & K.Schum.) T.G.Hartley{{R|APC}}
|synonyms_ref = {{R|APC|POWO}}
|synonyms =
- Euodia rubra Lauterb. & K.Schum. (1900)
- Evodia rubra Lauterb. & K.Schum. orth. var.
- Acronychia cauliflora Lauterb. (1918)
- Evodiella cauliflora (Lauterb.) B.L.Linden (1959)
}}
Melicope rubra, commonly known as the little evodia,{{R|FOA}} is a species of small tree in the citrus family Rutaceae, native to New Guinea and northeast Queensland. It was originally described as Euodia rubra in 1900. It has trifoliate leaves and pink bisexual flowers arranged on branches below the leaves.
Description
Melicope rubra is a tree that may grow to a height of {{cvt|7|m}} with a trunk diameter of about {{cvt|30|cm}}, but flowers and fruits as a shrub. The leaves are arranged in opposite pairs and are trifoliate on a petiole {{cvt|20–75|mm}} long. The leaflets are egg-shaped, {{cvt|40–150|mm}} long and {{cvt|15–45|mm}} wide, the leaflets sessile or on a petiolule up to {{cvt|10|mm}} long. The flowers are bisexual and arranged in panicles {{cvt|25–65|mm}} long on branches below the leaves. The sepals are more or less round to egg-shaped, {{cvt|1.5–2.5|mm}} long and joined at the base. The petals are pink, {{cvt|5–6|mm}} long and there are four stamens. Flowering occurs from February to June and the fruit consists of up to four follicles {{cvt|20–30|mm}} long and fused for at least half their length.{{R|FOA|RFK|HARTLEY}}
Taxonomy
The little evodia was first formally described as Euodia rubra by the German botanists Carl Adolf Georg Lauterbach and Karl Moritz Schumann, based on plant material collected in New Guinea by Lauterbach in 1896. Their work was published in 1900 in Schumann's book, Die Flora der Deutschen Schutzgebiete in der Sudsee.{{R|APNI1|Schumann}} In 2001 the American botanist Thomas Gordon Hartley published a 329-page revision of the closely related genera Euodia and Melicope, in which he transferred this species to Melicope.{{R|HARTLEY|APNI}}
=Etymology=
The genus name Melicope is from the Ancient Greek méli (honey), and cope (to chop, cut or divide), which refers to the notches in the nectar glands. The species epithet rubra is from the Latin ruber, red.{{R|COOPER2}}
Distribution and habitat
This species is native to northeastern Queensland (where it ranges from near Rossville southwards to the area around Cardwell) and New Guinea (where it is mostly found along the central chain of highlands).{{R|AVH}} It grows in and adjacent to rainforest, and also in monsoon forest and wet sclerophyll forest. Its altitudinal range in Queensland is from sea level to about {{cvt|850|m}}, and {{cvt|100|to|3450|m}} in New Guinea.{{R|FOA|RFK|HARTLEY}}
Conservation status
This species is classified as least concern under the Queensland Government's Nature Conservation Act 1992.{{R|DESQLD}} {{As of|2024|2|19}}, it has not been assessed by the international Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Ecology
Various species of honeyeaters and lorikeets visit the flowers for nectar, and the seeds are eaten by Macleay's honeyeaters (Xanthotis macleayanus). The tree also serves as one of the host plants for the Ulysses butterfly (Papilio ulysses) and the Emperor Gum Moth (Opodiphthera eucalypti).{{R|COOPER2|SMIP|ANPSA|CHBH1|CHBH2}}
Cultivation
The little evodia has become a popular choice for both private gardens and public parks and streets, due to its small size, colourful flowers and the birds and butterflies which are attracted to it. Around 95 plants of this species have been planted by Cairns Regional Council around the city.{{R|RFK|SMIP|TREEPLOTTER}}
Gallery
File:Melicope-rubra-SF24050-01.jpg|Young street tree in Cairns
File:Melicope-rubra-SF24049-02.jpg|Foliage and flowers
File:Melicope rubra.jpg|Flowers close-up
File:Melicope-rubra-SF24050-04.jpg|Ripe fruit
File:Melicope rubra fruit.jpg|Dehisced fruit
File:Melicope-rubra-SF24050-09.jpg|Old fruit
File:Melicope-rubra-SF24051-07.jpg|A Yellow Honeyeater (Stomiopera flava) gathering nectar in a little evodia
References
{{Reflist|28em|refs=
{{cite web |url=https://apps.des.qld.gov.au/species-search/details/?id=3485 |title=Species profile—Melicope rubra |year=2022 |website=Queensland Department of Environment and Science |publisher=Queensland Government |access-date=19 February 2024}}
{{cite web |url=https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Melicope%20rubra |title=Melicope rubra (Lauterb. & K.Schum.) T.G.Hartley |last1=Hartley |first1=T.G. |year=2022 |website=Flora of Australia |publisher=Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water: Canberra |access-date=19 February 2024}}
{{cite web |url=https://apps.lucidcentral.org/rainforest/text/entities/Melicope_rubra.htm |title=Melicope rubra |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}}
{{cite web |url=https://id.biodiversity.org.au/name/apni/143676 |title=Melicope rubra |website=Australian Plant Name Index (APNI) |publisher=Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research, Australian Government |access-date=19 February 2024}}
{{cite web |url=https://id.biodiversity.org.au/name/apni/222052 |title=Euodia rubra |website=Australian Plant Name Index (APNI) |publisher=Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research, Australian Government |access-date=19 February 2024}}
{{cite web |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:1019982-1 |title=Melicope rubra (Lauterb. & K.Schum.) T.G.Hartley |website=Plants of the World Online |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |year=2024 |access-date=19 February 2024}}
{{cite web |title=Search: species: Melicope rubra {{!}} Occurrence records |url=https://avh.ala.org.au/occurrences/search?taxa=Melicope%20rubra#tab_mapView |website=Australasian Virtual Herbarium |publisher=Australian Government |access-date=19 February 2024}}
}}
External links
{{Commons category||Melicope rubra}}
- [https://avh.ala.org.au/occurrences/search?taxa=Melicope+rubra#tab_mapView View a map] of herbarium records of this species at the Australasian Virtual Herbarium
- [https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?subview=map&taxon_id=488825 View observations] of this species on iNaturalist
- [https://flickriver.com/search/Melicope+rubra See images] of this species on Flickriver
{{Taxonbar|from1=Q15392799}}
Category:Sapindales of Australia
Category:Plants described in 1900
Category:Taxa named by Carl Adolf Georg Lauterbach