Diploglottis australis
Diploglottis australis, commonly known as the native tamarind, is a species of large trees in the maple and lychee family Sapindaceae. It is native to the eastern Australian states of New South Wales and Queensland, where it occurs in coastal rainforests. It was first described in 1879, and is known for its abundant edible fruit which are used to make drinks and condiments.
Description
Diploglottis australis is a large tree to about tall, and the base of the trunk may be fluted. New growth is densely covered in fine rusty-brown hairs. The leaves are very large, measuring up to long. They are pinnate, with usually 8–12 stiff leaflets. The leaflets are generally between long and wide; they are dark green above and lighter below, their overall shape is oblong and they have blunt or rounded tips and slightly asymmetric bases. They have between 20 and 30 lateral veins either side of the midrib, and the leaflet margins are entire, i.e. without teeth or lobes.Inflorescences are produced in the upper and are much-branched, reaching up to in length. The numerous flowers are quite small, about diameter, with four or five greenish sepals and white petals. The flowers are functionally either male or female but both forms are present on each plant. The "male" flowers have eight stamens arranged on one side of an undeveloped ovary, while the "female" flowers have a fully functional 3-locular ovary with sterile stamens.
The fruit is a yellow-orange, 2- or 3-lobed capsule, about wide, covered lightly with pale rusty coloured hairs. Each matured lobe contains a single brown seed which is completely enclosed in a fleshy orange aril.
Phenology
Flowers usually appear from September to November, and fruit ripen between November and December.Taxonomy
The taxonomic history of this plant is complicated and involves a number of authors. The first published description was by George Don, based on a specimen that had been sent to England and planted at Kew Gardens. Don gave it the name Stadmannia australis and published it in his book A general history of the dichlamydeous plants in 1831. This validly published name was, however, ignored by botanists, and in fact the tree's label at Kew incorrectly attributed the name S. australis to Allan Cunningham.In 1849 William Jackson Hooker transferred the plant to the genus Cupania, giving it the entirely new name C. cunninghami. Some years later, in 1862, botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker created the new genus Diploglottis with the intention of transferring the species to the new genus, however, although he listed C. cunninghami as a synonym he failed to specifically state that the plant had been renamed to Diploglottis cunninghamii. That oversight was corrected the following year by another botanist, George Bentham.
At this point, under the naming rules that apply in botany, the full title of the species was
Diploglottis cunninghamii
which recognises W.J. Hooker as the original author, J.D. Hooker as a subsequent author whose publication was invalid under the rules, and Bentham who corrected the error and attributed the name to the younger Hooker. This name remained in use until 1878, when German botanist Ludwig Radlkofer, realising that the species was originally described by George Don and therefore Don's botanical name had precedence under the rules, published a work titled Ueber Sapindus und damit in zusammenhang stehende pflanzen in which he renamed the species yet again, leaving it in the genus Diploglottis but giving it Don's species epithet australis.
Finally, in 1981 Australian botanist Sally T. Reynolds published a paper in which she reverted the species to its former epithet cunninghamii – however she made a number of errors in tracing the history of the plant, and in 1986 botanists Gwen Harden and Lawrence Johnson returned it to its current name.
Distribution and habitat
Diploglottis australis grows in subtropical, warm temperate and dry rainforests, on basaltic and rich alluvial soil from just north of Batemans Bay in New South Wales to near Maryborough in Queensland.Ecology
The fruit are eaten by fruit bats and a many bird species including fruit doves, pigeons, green catbirds and satin bowerbirds, while brush turkeys scavenge the fruit on the ground. The tree is also a host plant for the larvae of the pale green triangle and the bright cornelian butterflies.Conservation
, this species has been assessed to be of least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and by the Queensland Government under its Nature Conservation Act.Cultivation
The native tamarind makes an ideal park tree, and is widely cultivated in Australia due to its distinctive and attractive foliage, abundant colourful fruit and rust-coloured furry new growth flushes. The tree will usually only attain a height of about in cultivation due to it not having to compete with nearby trees. The tree is ill-suited to situations where strong winds damage its large leaflets. It may also be grown as an indoor plant.It can be propagated from fresh seed, which sprout readily, although good seeds may be difficult to find due to them being quickly eaten by fruit bats, birds and ants, as well as being attacked by butterfly larvae.