Micromelum minutum
{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}}
{{Speciesbox
| name = Limeberry
| image = Micromelum minutum fruit and foliage.jpg
| image_caption = Micromelum minutum fruit and foliage
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref = {{cite iucn |author=Oldfield, S. |title=Micromelum minutum |page=e.T149658600A149822446 |year=2020 |access-date=19 December 2023}}
| genus = Micromelum
| species = minutum
| authority = (G.Forst.) Wight & Arn.{{cite web |title=Micromelum minutum |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/72629|publisher=Australian Plant Census |accessdate= 28 July 2020}}
| synonyms = {{collapsible list |
- Glycosmis subvelutina F.Muell.
- Limonia minuta G.Forst.
- Micromelum glabrescens Benth.
- Micromelum minutum var. glabrescens (Benth.) Hochr.
- Micromelum minutum (G.Forst.) Wight & Arn. var. minutum
- Micromelum pubescens Blume
- Micromelum pubescens var. glabrescens (Benth.) Oliv.
- Micromelum pubescens Blume var. pubescens
}}
}}
Micromelum minutum, commonly known as limeberry, dilminyin (east Arnhem Land). kimiar margibur (Murray Island),{{cite book |last1=Mabberley|first1=David J. |editor-last1=Wilson |editor-first1=Annette J.G. |title=Flora of Australia (Volume 26) |date=2013 |publisher=Australian Biological Resources Study |location=Canberra |pages=497–498 |url=https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Micromelum%20minutum|accessdate=28 July 2020}} tulibas tilos (Philippines), sesi (Indonesia) and samui (Thailand),
{{Cite web | url= http://211.114.21.20/tropicalplant/html/search01_view.jsp?rno=132&fno=&page=6&all=1 | title= Micromelum minutum (J.G. Forster) Wight & Arn. | work= ASEAN Tropical Plant Database | format= website | accessdate= 16 May 2013 | url-status= dead | archiveurl= https://archive.today/20121129215408/http://211.114.21.20/tropicalplant/html/search01_view.jsp?rno=132&fno=&page=6&all=1 | archivedate= 29 November 2012 }}
is a species of small tree or shrub in the citrus plant family Rutaceae. It occurs from India and Indochina to Australia. It has pinnate leaves with egg-shaped to lance-shaped leaflets, hairy, pale green or creamish, scented flowers arranged in large groups and yellow to orange or red, oval to spherical berries in dense clusters.
Description
Micromelum minutum is a tree that typically grows to a height of {{cvt|10–20|m}} but also flowers and forms fruit as a dense shrub. The leaves are up to {{cvt|300|mm}} long and pinnate with seven to fifteen egg-shaped to lance-shaped leaflets {{cvt|30–120|mm}} long and {{cvt|15–60|mm}} wide on a petiolule up to {{cvt|5|mm}} long. The flowers are borne in large, hairy, scented groups {{cvt|130–200|mm}} long, each flower on a pedicel up to {{cvt|5|mm}} long. The petals are pale green or creamish, {{cvt|5–8|mm}} long and there are ten stamens that alternate in length. Flowering occurs all year and the fruit a yellow to orange or red, oval to spherical berry about {{cvt|10|mm}} long.{{cite web |author1=F.A.Zich |author2=B.P.M.Hyland |author3=T.Whiffen |author4=R.A.Kerrigan |author2-link=Bernard Hyland |year=2020 |url=https://apps.lucidcentral.org/rainforest/text/entities/Micromelum_minutum.htm |title=Micromelum minutum |website=Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants Edition 8 (RFK8) |publisher=Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research (CANBR), Australian Government |access-date=28 June 2021}}{{cite web |title=Micromelum minutum Rutaceae |url=http://www.npqtownsville.org.au/native-plants-of-the-townsville-region/micromelum-minutum/ |publisher=Native Plants Queensland – Townsville Branch |accessdate=28 July 2020}}
Taxonomy
Limeberry was first formally described in 1786 by Georg Forster who gave it the name Limonia minuta and published the description in Florulae Insularum Australium Prodromus.{{cite web|title=Limonia minuta|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/648081|publisher=APNI|accessdate=28 July 2020}}{{cite book |last1=Forster |first1=Georg |title=Florae Insulum Australium Prodromus |date=1786 |publisher=Joann. Christian Dietrich |location=Göttingen |page=33 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/41812#page/41/mode/1up |accessdate=28 July 2020}} In 1834, Wight and George Arnott Walker-Arnott changed the name to Micromelum minutum in their book Prodromus Florae Peninsulae Indiae Orientalis.{{cite web|title=Micromelum minutum|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/484318 |publisher=APNI|accessdate=28 July 2020}}
Distribution and habitat
Micromelum minutum grows as an understorey plant in rainforest, including dry rainforest and monsoon forest and from sea level to an altitude of {{cvt|600|m}}. It also occurs in sandstone gorges and on karst formations far inland. The species occurs in Malesia, New Caledonia, Fiji and northern Australia. In Australia it is found in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, in the northern part of the Northern Territory, and south from the Cape York Peninsula in Queensland. It was recorded in New South Wales prior to 1911.{{cite web |vauthors=Cowie I, Lewis D, etal |title=Micromelum minutum |url=http://eflora.nt.gov.au/factsheet?id=5303 |website=FloraNT, Northern Territory Herbarium |publisher=Northern Territory Government, Darwin. |access-date=28 June 2021 |year=}}{{cite web |title=Micromelum minutum |url=https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/browse/profile/4489 |website=Western Australian Herbarium (1998–). Florabase—the Western Australian Flora |publisher=Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, Government of Western Australia |access-date=28 June 2021 |year=2021}}
Ecology
The larvae of some species of butterfly, including the orchard butterfly (Papilio aegeus) and canopus butterfly (Papilio fuscus) use this species as a food source.