Scale bar 10mm. Copyright CSIRO

 
Leaves and fruits. Copyright CSIRO

 
Leaves and Flowers. Copyright CSIRO

 
Cotyledon stage, epigeal germination. Copyright CSIRO

 
10th leaf stage. Copyright CSIRO

Parsonsia lenticellata

Family

Apocynaceae

Botanical Name

Parsonsia lenticellata C.T.White

White, C.T. (1936) Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland 47: 70. Type: Queensland, Mowbray River, 27 Jan. 19932, L.J. Brass, No. 2020; lecto: BRI; iso: A, MEL. Fide J. B. Williams, Fl. Australia 28: 318 (1996).

Stem

A slender vine not exceeding a stem diameter of 2 cm.

Leaves

Leaf blades about 4-9 x 1-2.6 cm, petioles about 0.25-0.4 cm long. Lateral veins about 8-9 on each side of the midrib. Small glands (about 0.8 mm long) resembling tiny stipules visible on the twigs between the petiole bases. Twigs and petioles produce a clear exudate. Twigs often marked with elongated lenticels.

Flowers

Inflorescence densely clothed in short hairs. Flowers about 5 mm diam. at anthesis. Calyx lobes about 2.5-3 mm long, reflexed at anthesis, finely pubescent on the outer surface. A number of small finger-like glands present on the inner surface near the base of the sepals, usually 2-4 per sepal. Corolla tube about 1-1.5 mm long, lobes about 1.3 -3 mm long, erect at anthesis. Corolla finely pubescent on the outer surface, corolla tube hairy on the inner surface. Staminal filaments hairy, about 1.1 mm long. Anthers about 2 mm long, bases sagittate, anthers fused together to form a cone around the style. Nectary (disk) glands five, each about 0.3-0.6 mm long surrounding the base of the ovary. Style and stigma about 1.5 mm long. Ovules numerous in each locule.

Fruit

Fruits about 7-9 x 0.7 cm containing numerous seeds. Seeds about 8 mm long, each crowned by a tuft of pale brown hairs about 17 mm long. One side of the seed concave and the other convex. Testa surface longitudinally wrinkled. Embryo about 7 mm long, cotyledons longer and wider than the radicle. Endosperm hard.

Seedlings

Cotyledons elliptic, about 12-16 x 7-8 mm. First leaf blades +/- linear, several times longer than wide, longer but narrower than the cotyledons, apex acute, base obtuse. Hypocotyl hairy. At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blade linear to linear-lanceolate, apex acuminate, base obtuse. Lower surface of the leaf blade much paler than the upper surface. Midrib depressed on the upper surface. A number of pale, linear, stipule-like glands about 0.7 mm long present on the stems between the points of attachment of the petioles. Leaf blade margins recurved. Stems twining.

Distribution and Ecology

Endemic to Queensland, occurs in NEQ and central coastal Queensland. Altitudinal range in NEQ from near sea level to 150 m. Usually grows in the drier types of rain forest or their margins.

NEQ

X

Slender Vine

X

RFK Code

2599