Abrophyllum
Abrophyllum is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the family Saxifragaceae sensu lato according to Engler, A. in Engler & Prantl and Schulze-Menz, G. K. in Melchior, 1964; placed in Subfamily Escallonioideae, Tribe Cuttsieae, it is closely related to Cuttsia. In the APG II system Abrophyllum is placed in family Rousseaceae.
The sole species is Abrophyllum ornans. Its common name is native hydrangea, but it does not have great affinity with the true hydrangea.Classification
It is also classified in Escalloniaceae, Grossulariaceae, Carpodetaceae, Rousseaceae, or even in its own family Abrophyllaceae Nakai.Distribution
It is native to Australia. Its habitat is warm-temperate and subtropical rainforest, especially along smaller watercourses or in gullies on poorer soils. The natural range of distribution is from the Illawarra region of New South Wales to the McIlwraith Range in far north Queensland.Description
Shrubs or small trees to high; leaves simple, mostly long, wide, alternate, large, lanceolate, long-acuminate, subserrate; without stipules, petiole long. Flowers in terminal or axillary cymes, yellowish. Calyx is short, tubular, lobes usually 5 or sometimes 6, deciduous. Petals long, usually 5 or sometimes 6, valvate, spreading, deciduous. Stamens usually 5 or sometimes 6, inserted on the margin of the inconspicuous nectary disk; anthers broad oblong; filaments very short. Gynoecium of 5 carpels, receptacle patelliform. Ovary superior, 5-locular, with numerous axile ovules, stigma sessile, 5-lobed. Fruit are oblong, black berries about long and wide, crowned by the stigma, many-seeded; seeds small, subglobose, testa deeply latticed; embryo very small; endosperm fleshy and oily.Uses
Sometimes cultivated for its ornamental foliage and fruits.