Cerbera inflata

Cassowary plum
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Gentianales
Family: Apocynaceae
Genus: Cerbera
Species:
C. inflata
Binomial name
Cerbera inflata
Synonyms[3]
  • Cerbera manghas auct. non L.

Cerbera inflata, commonly known as the cassowary plum, grey milkwood, Joojooga, or rubber tree, is a plant in the family Apocynaceae endemic to northeast Queensland, specifically the Atherton Tablelands and adjacent areas.

Description

The cassowary plum is a tree up to 30 m (98 ft) in height with a grey fissured trunk, and with no buttress roots. Leaves are glabrous (smooth), lanceolate, dull green above and paler below, and crowded towards the end of the twigs. They measure up to 26 cm (10 in) long and 3 cm (1.2 in) wide, with about 35 lateral veins. All parts of the tree produces a copious milky sap when cut.[4][5][6]

The inflorescence is a much branched cyme up to 15 cm (6 in) with usually more than 50 flowers. The flowers have 5 white sepals, a long corolla tube about 16 mm (0.6 in) in length by 2 mm (0.08 in) wide with 5 free lobes at the end. They are white with a cream or green centre, about 15 mm (0.6 in) in diameter, and have a sweet scent.[4][5][6]

Fruits are a bright blue-purple drupe measuring about 7 cm (2.8 in) long by 3 cm (1.2 in) wide, bluntly rounded at the base (the end attached to the branch) and slightly pointed at the apex. They each contain a single large seed.[4][5][6]

Taxonomy

This species was first described as Cerbera dilatata by the Australian botanist Stanley Thatcher Blake, and published in 1948 in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland.[7] That name was subsequently found to be a nomen illegitimum as it had previously been applied to a plant from the Caroline and Mariana Islands in 1927,[8] (and is now a synonym of Cerbera odollam). Thus it was necessary that this species be renamed, and in 1959 botanist Paul Irwin Forster published a revision of the Australian members of the genus Cerbera, in which he gave this plant its current combination.[5] Any historical collections or observations from Australia that are labelled C. dilatata will be referring to the species C. inflata, while those from outside Australia refer to C. odollam.

Etymology

The species epithet derives from the Latin inflatus, meaning 'inflated' and refers to the corolla tube.[6]

Distribution and habitat

Cerbera inflata is endemic to Queensland. It grows in well developed rainforest in the foothills and uplands from Innisfail to the Atherton Tableland. The altitudinal range is from 100 to 800 m (330 to 2,620 ft).[4][6]

Ecology

Cassowaries eat the fallen fruit whole, and are the major dispersal agent for the species.[6]

  • Foliage, inflorescence and trunks
  • Spirally arranged leaves
  • Inflorescence
  • Fruit
  • Trunk

References

  1. ^ "Species Profile - Cerbera inflata". Queensland Government. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  2. ^ "Cerbera inflata". International Plant Names Index. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  3. ^ "Cerbera inflata". Australian Plant Census (APC). Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  4. ^ a b c d F.A. Zich; B.P.M Hyland; T. Whiffen; R.A. Kerrigan. "Cerbera inflata". Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants, Edition 8. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government. Retrieved 14 February 2021.
  5. ^ a b c d Forster, Paul I. (1992). "A Taxonomic Revision of Cerbera L. (Apocynaceae) in Australia and Papuasia". Austrobaileya. 3 (4). Queensland Herbarium: 569–579. doi:10.5962/p.365989. JSTOR 41738802. S2CID 260401807. Retrieved 14 February 2021.
  6. ^ a b c d e f Cooper, Wendy; Cooper, William (2004). Fruits of the Australian Tropical Rainforest. Nokomis Editions. p. 35. ISBN 0-9581742-1-0.
  7. ^ Blake, S. T. (1948). "STUDIES IN AUSTRALIAN APOCYNACEAE AND ASCLEPIADACEAE, I." Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland. 59 (2): 161. doi:10.5962/p.351729. S2CID 257131991. Retrieved 14 February 2021.
  8. ^ "Cerbera dilatata". International Plant Names Index (IPNI). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries; Australian National Botanic Gardens. Retrieved 14 February 2021.
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