Elaeocarpus linsmithii


Elaeocarpus linsmithii is a species of flowering plant in the family Elaeocarpaceae and is endemic to north-east Queensland. It is a shrub with oblong to elliptic leaves, white or pale green flowers and oval fruit.

Description

Elaeocarpus linsmithii is a shrub that typically grows to a height of with a dbh of less than. The leaves are leathery, oblong to elliptic, long and wide on a petiole long. The flowers are arranged in racemes of six to thirteen on a rachis long, each flower on a pedicel long. The flowers are white or pale green, long with five narrow oblong to lance-shaped sepals long, wide and densely covered with silky brown hairs on the outside. The five petals are egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, long and wide and there are between twenty-eight and thirty-five stamens. Flowering occurs from April to June and the fruit is a more or less oval drupe long and wide.

Taxonomy

Elaeocarpus linsmithii was first formally described in 1984 by Gordon P. Guymer in the Kew Bulletin. The specific epithet honours Lindsay Stuart Smith.

Distribution and habitat

Elaeocarpus linsmithii grows in rainforest at altitudes of in the Mount Spurgeon - Mount Lewis area and near the summit of Mount Bartle Frere in north-eastern Queensland.

Conservation status

Elaeocarpus linsmithii is listed as of "least concern" under the Queensland Government Nature [Conservation Act 1992].