Medicosma forsteri


Medicosma forsteri is a species of small tree in the family Rutaceae and is endemic to a restricted area of Queensland. It has elliptical leaves and cream-coloured flowers borne singly or in small groups in leaf axils.

Description

Medicosma forsteri is a tree that typically grows to a height of. The leaves are arranged in more or less opposite pairs and are narrow elliptical to narrow egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, long and wide on a petiole long. The flowers are arranged singly or in small groups up to long and are sessile or on a pedicel up to long. The sepals are long and densely covered on the outside with soft hairs flattened against the surface. The petals are cream-coloured, about long, densely covered with flattened hairs on the back and part of the front. The remnants of the petals remain on the fruit, increasing in size to about. Flowering has been observed in April and the fruit is a follicle about long.

Taxonomy

Medicosma forsteri was first formally described in 1985 by Thomas Gordon Hartley in the Australian Journal of Botany from specimens collected in 2000 near Mount Mellum by Paul Irwin Forster. The specific epithet honours the collector of the type specimens.

Distribution and habitat

This medicosma is only known from the type location where it grows at an altitude of in rainforest dominated by bangalow palm.

Conservation status

This species is classified as of "least concern" under the Queensland Government Nature Conservation Act 1992.