Peripentadenia phelpsii
Peripentadenia phelpsii is a plant in the family Elaeocarpaceae which is endemic to a very small part of northeastern Queensland, Australia. It is a large evergreen tree with large buttresses, and was first described in 1982.
Description
Peripentadenia phelpsii is a tree growing up to tall and diameter, with dramatic buttresses and a nondescript bark. The branches, twigs and leaves are all glabrous. The leaves are arranged alternately on the twigs and carried on petioles up to long; the leaf blades are oblong to elliptic and measure up to long by wide. They usually have 6 to 8 lateral veins either side of the midrib which form loops but are somewhat obscure. The leaf margins may be faintly toothed or smooth.The inflorescence is a fascicle - they usually consists of 3 to 5 flowers, or occasionally only one, and are produced on the twigs below the leaves. The 5 sepals and petals are white; the sepals measure about long by wide, the petals are about long by wide and the distal margin has numerous long narrow lobes that give the flower a frilly appearance. There are 13 stamens opposite each petal and 2 more opposite each sepal.
The fruit is a green capsule, up to long by wide. It contains a single seed that is completely enclosed in a fleshy red aril. The seed measures about long by wide.
Phenology
Flowering occurs from August to September, fruit ripen around December to January.Taxonomy
Collections of plant material of this species were first made from 1975 onwards, from rainforest in the Mossman area. It was formally described in a 1982 paper by Bernard Hyland and Mark James Elgar Coode, titled "A second species for the Australian genus Peripentadenia," and published in the Kew Bulletin. The type specimen is a collection made in 1976 by Bruce Gray, a Queensland botanical collector and orchid specialist.Etymology
The genus name Peripentadenia is constructed from the prefix "peri-" meaning about or around; "penta-" meaning five; and "adeno-" meaning gland. it is a reference to the insertion of the stamens around five "glands" in the flowers.The species was named in honour of Roy Phelps, who first collected fruit of the plant and brought them to the attention of the authors.