Polyscias elegans, or Celery Wood is a most elegant tree, with an attractive palm like or umbrella shaped crown typical of mature individuals. It has a beautiful form and has leaves that are many times pinnate. True to its namesake, crushed parts have a nice smell of celery.
It is also very common in rain forests and even some drier forest types, and is a fast growing tree and in my opinion would make for a wonderful ornamental.
More photos on the way for this baby.
Just about everywhere along the roadsides beside canefields in Cairns we may encounter this beautiful exotic herb, commonly known as Leucas. Leucas occurs in wasteland environments in India to China and some parts of Southeast Asia.
Most unfortunately, few people take much notice of this herb. Ironically, some of the plants that we see most often are frequently also those that have medicinal properties. Leucas is one such herb, and has been used traditionally outside of Australia as an antihelmintic, and as a treatment for various skin disorders and for snake bites. More on it’s medicinal properties can be read here.
Not a herb to be taken for granted. Next time you pass one, say hello.
This glorious vine seems to be a very common inhabitant of rain forests. It’s hard to imagine that this vine has anything to do with what we would normally call mints (i.e members of the Lamiaceae family), but the flower structure of Faradaya splendida clearly conforms to the mint plan!
For now, I’d just say that this vine is indeed splendid!
For someone so boldly beautiful, there are actually no images out there on a google search! At least not at time time of this writing.
But I can understand.
In my time in Paluma I had seen Stylidium eriorrhizum dozens of times on the dry open forest floor. It was not in flower and was all there was was a little neat rosette plant a couple of centimeters wide that had the look of a small ornamental succulent Crussula. Despite having seen numerous trigger plants in Tasmania and even here, it did not occur to me that this plant was a Stylidium.
Then it all fell into place when she finally graced me with her flowers.
Those sticky hairs all along the flower stalk, those pink flowers and those specialized stamens for violently implanting pollen on insect pollinators – unmistakably a trigger plant.
Dodonaea triquetra is a shrub of wet eucalypt forest, typically at the more open canopied spectrum of the habitat. This is one of a few native species of Hop Bush and I find this species particularly interesting because it is reputed to be an obligate seeder in an environment that most of the inhabitant plants require fire for regeneration. This means that in the event of a fire, Dodonaea triquetra will get killed and has no ability to resprout. This being the case, it must have some means to regenerate after fire if it is to maintain a healthy population in a given locality.
Nature takes care of itself in ways we cannot see or understand. Even with man-made fires sweeping through some areas of wet eucalypt forest, Dodonaea triquetra may still be seen here and there.
With just leaves, the species is probably quite difficult to tell apart from other similar species of Dodonaea, but I must admit that it is my shortcoming that I haven’t spent a good amount of time getting to know this group of plants very well. I found that this particular species has a rather distinctive spread-out appearance to the stamens. The long elliptic leaves and slightly dull underside combined with the habitat context also helps.
The species may also have some medicinal properties that await further examination.
May the Dodonaea be in fruit the next time I meet.
This small tree, locally known as the Native Hydrangea, is one of those very common species but which with there is little that many people may be able to relate to. For one thing, it is the sole species in the genus Abrophyllum. It belongs to a small and rather obscure family, the Rousseaceae, that few other than the most hardcore taxonomy nerds will have heard of. It is also endemic to Australia.
Character-wise, there is little to say other than that it has alternate leaves which are toothed on the margins. Maybe one could say it bears a little resemblance to Hydrangeas, if that helps recognizing it in the field.
The flowers are yellow and have a particularly bold look, which is hard to explain in words. Probably something to do with the very robust looking stamens and the stigmas that look like a mini-flower when viewed from the top.
The fruits are ripen purple.
This very common rain forest tree is endemic to Australia and is also known as the Brown Tamarind or Native Chestnut. The leaves are compound and the leaflets have a whitish underside which makes this species very distinctive.
The fruits are like small brown canon balls.
Compound leaves
The distinctive glaucous undersides of the leaflets. Note also how the veins come out at a very wide angle (almost 90 degrees to the midrib)
Harpullias are one of the fruity highlights of Far North Queensland because of the very striking character. The open fruits have a seed encased in a bright red-orange to yellow aril, with a little bit of the black seed peering out at the tip – resembling eyes.
Just do not say that plants do not see!
One rather distinctive character of this species is the rather slender habit (relative to other members of the genus in FNQ) and the winged compound leaf rachis.
Winged compound leaf rachis
This native vine is nowhere as grandiose and flashy as its exotic New Guinean relative Mucuna novo-guinensis but there is something subtly and quietly beautiful about the cluster of light cream yellow flowers that hang gracefully from a long pendant stalk. I picture the grace of ballet dancers.
The seed pod ripens black and are often covered fine irritant hairs – a rather common trait in some species of Mucanas. The slightly flatten black seeds are often referred to as Burney Beans. These seeds are buoyant and can be dispersed by water or ocean currents and to withstand such rough rides, these seeds need to be durable. As such they have a hard coat – a trait that has led to its prominence in modern and ancient seed jewellery making.
This native grape vine is one of the most interesting grape vines I have ever seen. I have only seen it on the Atherton Tablelands. It is rusty-brown hairy on the stems and tendrils and yellowish-felty on the leaf underside and has very prominent domatia at the base of the leaf in the vein-midrib axil where two veins radiate out. Another Cissus, C. oblonga also has domatia at a similar location on the leaf, but does not have the hairs. This robust vine is a Queensland endemic and it’s uniqueness has undoubtedly helped it pave it’s way into horticulture. It is grown as an indoor plant and sometimes in full sun.
Note the two domatia at the first 2 veins radiating from the midrib near the leaf base. Sometimes these domatia are also found in the vein-midrib axils further up the leaf.
David Tng botany Tumblr
Leaf Whispering in the Tropics 