Mitrephora diversifolia

Mitrephora diversifolia
In Mount Coot-tha Botanic Gardens
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Embryophytes
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Magnoliids
Order: Magnoliales
Family: Annonaceae
Genus: Mitrephora
Species:
M. diversifolia
Binomial name
Mitrephora diversifolia
Synonyms[2]
  • Unona diversifolia Span.
  • Uvaria diversifolia (Span.) Walp.
  • Kinginda diversifolia Kuntze
  • Mitrephora ochracea (Burck) Diels
  • Mitrephora zippeliana Miq.
  • Uvaria ochracea Burck
Flowers

Mitrephora diversifolia is a species of flowering plant in the family Annonaceae. It is a tree native to Queensland, New Guinea, Ambon Island, the Lesser Sunda Islands, and Sulawesi.[2] It is a tree with egg-shaped leaves, the flowers with cream-coloured and mauve-pink petals, 70 to 85 stamens and 10 to 14 carpels. The fruit is egg-shaped containing up to 8 seeds.

Description

Mitrephora diversifolia is a tree that typically grows to a height of up to 15 m (49 ft). Its leaves are egg-shaped, 80–300 mm (3.1–11.8 in) long, 30–90 mm (1.2–3.5 in) wide on a petiole 4–6 mm (0.16–0.24 in) long and have 9 to 11 pairs of secondary veins. The flowers are arranged singly in leaf axils on a peduncle up to 15 mm (0.59 in) long, the pedicel 4–6 mm (0.16–0.24 in) long. The sepals are 4 mm (0.16 in) long and densely hairy. Its outer petals cream-coloured, egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, 18–22 mm (0.71–0.87 in) long and 13–15 mm (0.51–0.59 in) wide. The inner petals are 5 mm (0.20 in) long and 7 mm (0.28 in) wide, with a mauve-pink, hairy, spade-shaped or arrow-shaped blade. There are 70 to 85 stamens and 10 to 14 carpels each containing 10 ovules. Flowering mostly occurs between October and March, and fruit is egg-shaped, 20–30 mm (0.79–1.18 in) long and 12–20 mm (0.47–0.79 in) wide, containing up to 8 seeds.[3]

Taxonomy

This species was first described in 1841 by Johan Baptist Spanoghe who gave it the name Unona ? diversifolia in the journal Linnaea.[4][5] In 1858, Friedrich Anton Wilhelm Miquel transferred the species to the genus Mitrephora as M. diversifolia. The specific epithet (diversifolia) means "unlike-" or "different-leaved".[6]

Distribution and habitat

Mitrephora diversifolia is native to the Lesser Sunda Islands, Ambon Island in the Maluku Islands, Sulawesi, New Guinea, and northern Queensland.[2]In Queensland it grows in vine forest from the tip of Cape York Peninsula to the McIlwraith Range.[3]

References

  1. ↑ IUCN SSC Global Tree Specialist Group.; Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI). (2019). "Mitrephora diversifolia". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2019 e.T155290488A155290490. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-3.RLTS.T155290488A155290490.en. Retrieved 24 June 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Mitrephora diversifolia". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 24 June 2026.
  3. 1 2 Jessup, L.W. "Mitrephore diversifolia". Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water: Canberra. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  4. ↑ "Unona ? diversifolia". Australian Plant Name Index. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  5. ↑ Spanoghe, Johann B. (1841). "Prodromus Florae Timorensis". Linnaea: Ein Journal für die Botanik in ihrem ganzen Umfange. 15: 163. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  6. ↑ George, Alex; Sharr, Francis (2021). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings (4th ed.). Kardinya, WA: Four Gables Press. p. 186. ISBN 9780958034180.