Medicosma sessiliflora


Medicosma sessiliflora is a species of shrub or small tree in the family Rutaceae and is endemic to far north Queensland. It has simple elliptical to egg-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base and cream-coloured flowers borne singly or in small groups in leaf axils.

Description

Medicosma sessiliflora is a shrub or tree that typically grows to a height of. The leaves are elliptical to 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, each flower sessile or on a pedicel up to long. The sepals are long and the petals are cream-coloured, long, densely covered on the back with soft hairs flattened against the surface and the eight stamens alternate in length. Flowering occurs from May to November and the fruit is a follicle long.

Taxonomy

This species was first formally described in 1936 by Cyril Tenison White who gave it the name Melicope sessiliflora and published the description in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland from specimens collected by Leonard John Brass in the Mossman Gorge. In 1985 Thomas Gordon Hartley changed the name to Medicosma sessiliflora in the Australian Journal of Botany.

Distribution and habitat

Medicosma sessiliflora grows in rainforest from sea level to an altitude of and is found from near Cooktown to the Atherton Tableland in far north Queensland.

Conservation status

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