Diploglottis obovata


Diploglottis obovata, commonly known as blunt-leaved tamarind, is a plant in the family Sapindaceae endemic to central eastern Queensland, Australia. Until 1987 it was considered to be a form of the very closely related Diploglottis diphyllostegia.

Description

The blunt-leaved tamarind is a small to medium-sized, spreading, evergreen tree growing up to high. It is very similar to Diploglottis diphyllostegia with branchlets, leaves and subdivisions covered in a dense light brown indumentum. The compound leaves have 2 or 3 pairs of leaflets either side of the midrib and no terminal leaflet, measuring overall about long. The leaflets are obovate to elliptic and measure up to long by wide.
The inflorescence is a panicle up to long and wide, with both staminate and pistillate flowers in the same inflorescence. Individual flowers have 5 petals with one petal usually reduced, measure about wide, and are held on a pedicel up to long.
The fruit is very similar to that of D. diphyllostegia, a 2- or 3-lobed capsule measuring up to long by wide with one seed per lobe, which is enveloped in an orange or red aril.

Taxonomy

The species was first described by the Australian botanist Sally T. Reynolds in 1987, and published in the journal Austrobaileya. Prior to that it had been treated as a form of Diploglottis diphyllostegia.

Etymology

The genus name Diploglottis comes from the Neo-Latin words diplo- meaning double, combined with glottis meaning tongue, and refers to the two tongue-like scales on the petals. The species epithet obovata refers to the obovate shape of the leaflets.

Distribution and habitat

The blunt-leaved tamarind is endemic to coastal and sub-coastal areas of central Queensland, from the area around Proserpine to near Bee Creek, southwest of Sarina. It grows in rainforest, most commonly on creek banks in notophyll vine forest.

Conservation

This species is listed by the Queensland Department of Environment and Science as least concern., it has not been assessed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.