Endiandra microneura

Endiandra microneura
Line drawing showing a sprouted seed, a flowering twig, leaf venation, a whole seed and a longitudinal section, and detail of the flowers.
Botanical sketch
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Embryophytes
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Magnoliids
Order: Laurales
Family: Lauraceae
Genus: Endiandra
Species:
E. microneura
Binomial name
Endiandra microneura
Synonyms[3]

Endiandra microneura, commonly known as Noah's walnut, is a species of plant in the family Lauraceae, first described in 1948. It is native to a small part of the Wet Tropics bioregion of Queensland, Australia. It grows in rainforest and has a conservation status of near-threatened.

Description

Endiandra microneura is a buttressed tree growing up to 30 m (98 ft) tall.[4] The young twigs are fluted and finely hairy but become hairless when older. Leaves are glossy green, arranged alternately on either side of the twigs and measure up to 15 cm (5.9 in) long and 6.5 cm (2.6 in) wide. Oil dots are present and visible with a hand lens.[5][6]

Inflorescences take the form of a panicle and emerge from the leaf axils. The flowers are very small, with six tepals about 1 mm (0.04 in) long. The flowers are cream or white and fragrant. Anthers are about 0.6 mm long and attached by a filament about 0.1 mm long. The ovary is about 0.7 mm long and wide.[4][6]

The fruit is a glossy, ovoid, yellow or orange drupe measuring up to 8 cm (3.1 in) long and 6.5 cm (2.6 in) wide. It contains a single brown ellipsoid seed up to 6.5 cm (2.6 in) long and 4.5 cm (1.8 in) wide.[4]

Distribution and habitat

Noah's walnut is mostly restricted to lowland areas between the Daintree River and Cape Tribulation, with a handful of occurrences being recorded from other parts of the Daintree National Park. It is estimated that the area of occupancy[a] is about 108 km2 (42 sq mi).[7][8] The species grows in rainforest on metamorphic soils.[5][6]

Taxonomy

This species was first described by Cyril Tenison White in 1936 as Endiandra reticulata.[9] He later had to rename it when it was found that the combination had already been used for a species from Fiji. In 1948 he published a brief note in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland, assigning the new species epithet 'microneura' to the taxon.[10]

In his review of Australian Lauraceae published in 1989, botanist Bernard Hyland placed this species in a group of 12 other Endiandra species that bore no close relationship to any of the other nine groups that he found in the genus.[11]: 141 

Conservation

This species is listed as near-threatened in the Queensland Government's WildNet database.[1] As of 22 August 2026, it has not been assessed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

References

  1. 1 2 "Endiandra microneura". WildNet. Queensland Government. 2026. Retrieved 22 August 2026.
  2. ↑ "Endiandra microneura C.T.White". Australian Plant Name Index (APNI). Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research, Australian Government. Retrieved 22 August 2026.
  3. 1 2 "Endiandra microneura C.T.White". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 2026. Retrieved 22 August 2026.
  4. 1 2 3 Cooper, Wendy; Cooper, William T. (June 2004). Fruits of the Australian Tropical Rainforest. Clifton Hill, Victoria, Australia: Nokomis Editions. p. 260. ISBN 978-0-9581742-1-3.
  5. 1 2 F.A.Zich; B.P.M.Hyland; T.Whiffen; R.A.Kerrigan (2020). "Endiandra microneura". Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants Edition 8 (RFK8). Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research (CANBR), Australian Government. Retrieved 22 August 2026.
  6. 1 2 3 Le Cussan, J.; Hyland, B.P.M. (2022). "Endiandra microneura C.T.White". Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water: Canberra. Retrieved 22 August 2026.
  7. ↑ "Search: species: Endiandra microneura | Occurrence records". Australasian Virtual Herbarium. Australian Government. Retrieved 22 August 2026.
  8. ↑ "Spatial Portal - Endiandra microneura". Atlas of Living Australia. CSIRO. Retrieved 22 August 2026.
  9. ↑ White, C.T. (1936). "Contributions to the Queensland flora, No. 5". Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland. 57: 51–84.
  10. ↑ White, C.T. (1948). "Three species of Endiandra (family Lauraceae) from eastern Australia". Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland. 59 (2): 151–152.
  11. ↑ Hyland, BPM (1989). "A revision of Lauraceae in Australia (Excluding Cassytha )". Australian Systematic Botany. 2 (2): 135–367. doi:10.1071/SB9890135.

Notes

  1. ↑ For a definition of Area of Occupancy see this page at the Atlas of Living Australia
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  • Map of herbarium collections of this species at the Australasian Virtual Herbarium
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