Rockinghamia angustifolia


Rockinghamia angustifolia, commonly known as mountain kamala, is a species of plant in the family Euphorbiaceae. It was first described in 1873 and is native to the rainforests of eastern Queensland, Australia.

Description

Rockinghamia angustifolia is an understorey tree reaching up to tall with a trunk diameter of up to. The trunk may be fluted or buttressed. Leaves are simple and clustered towards the ends of the branches and are held on petioles up to long. They measure up to long by wide and have 7–10 lateral veins. The petiole has a at either end.
The inflorescence is a panicle up to long and comprises both male and female flowers. The pink or red flowers have sepals about long but do not have petals. The fruit is a three-lobed, red, pink or green capsule about long and wide, containing up to eight roughly spherical seeds about long.

Taxonomy

This plant was first described in 1873 as Mallotus angustifolius by English botanist George Bentham. In 1966, Herbert Kenneth Airy Shaw reviewed the material on which Bentham's description was based and concluded that it did not belong in the genus Mallotus, and he created the new genus Rockinghamia to accommodate the species.

Etymology

The genus name Rockinghamia is for Rockingham Bay, the area where the type specimen was collected. The species epithet angustifolia is derived from the Latin words angustus, 'narrow', and folium, leaf.

Distribution and habitat

Rockinghamia angustifolia inhabits rainforest of eastern Queensland, Australia, and occurs in two distinct populations. The northern population extends from about Rossville to Paluma Range National Park, and the southern population is in the area around Eungella National Park west of Mackay. The altitudinal range is from sea level to about.

Ecology

The seeds of this species are eaten by Australian king parrots.

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 1992|Nature Conservation Act].