Flindersia


Flindersia is a genus of 17 species of small to large trees in the family Rutaceae. They have simple or pinnate leaves, flowers arranged in panicles at or near the ends of branchlets and fruit that is a woody capsule containing winged seeds. They grow naturally in Australia, the Moluccas, New Guinea and New Caledonia.

Description

Trees in the genus Flindersia have simple or pinnate leaves with up to sixteen leaflets, the side leaflets arranged in opposite pairs. The flowers are arranged in panicles at the ends of branchlets or in upper leaf axils and have five sepals and five petals. The flowers are bisexual, or sometimes only have stamens. There are five stamens opposite the sepals, alternating with five staminodes. The ovary has five locules and is more or less spherical with five shallow lobes and there are between four and six ovules in each locule. The fruit is a woody capsule splitting into five and contains brown, winged seeds.

Taxonomy

The genus Flindersia was first formally described in 1814 by Robert Brown in Matthew Flinders' sea voyage journal A Voyage to Terra Australis.

Species list

, Plants of the World Online accepts the following 17 species:
  • Flindersia acuminata C.T.White – silver silkwood, silver maple
  • Flindersia amboinensis Poir. –
  • Flindersia australis R.Br. – Australian teak, crows ash
  • Flindersia bennettii F.Muell. ex C.Moore – Bennett's ash
  • Flindersia bourjotiana F.Muell. – Queensland silver ash
  • Flindersia brassii T.G.Hartley & B.Hyland – hard scented maple, Claudie River scented maple –
  • Flindersia brayleyana F.Muell. – Queensland maple, maple silkwood
  • Flindersia collina F.M.Bailey – broad-leaved leopard tree
  • Flindersia dissosperma Domin – scrub leopardwood
  • Flindersia fournieri Pancher & Sebert –
  • Flindersia ifflana F.Muell. – hickory ash, Cairns hickory
  • Flindersia laevicarpa C.T.White & W.D.Francis
  • Flindersia maculosa Benth. – leopardwood, leopard tree
  • Flindersia oppositifolia T.G.Hartley & Laurence W. Jessup – mountain silkwood
  • Flindersia pimenteliana F.Muell. – maple silkwood, rose silkwood
  • Flindersia schottiana F.Muell. – silver ash, cudgerie, bumpy ash
  • Flindersia xanthoxyla Domin – yellowwood, long jack

    Distribution and habitat

Many species of Flindersia grow in rainforest. Of the seventeen species, fifteen occur in Australia, twelve of which are endemic.

Uses

Some species yield timbers that are widely used for flooring and cabinet work.