Elaeodendron australe explained

Elaeodendron australe, commonly known as red olive-berry, red-fruited olive plum, or blush boxwood, is a species of flowering plant in the family Celastraceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is a shrub or small tree with egg-shaped to oblong leaves with a wavy margin, yellowish green male and female flowers on separate plants and fleshy orange-red fruit.

Description

Elaeodendron australe is a shrub or small tree that typically grows to a height of and has separate male and female plants. The leaves are mostly arranged in opposite pairs and are egg-shaped to elliptic or oblong with a wavy edge, long and wide on a petiole long. Elaeodendron australe is dioecious; that is, male and female flowers are borne on separate plants. The flowers are arranged in cymes in leaf axils, on a peduncle up to long, each flower on a pedicel long. The four petals are yellowish-green, about long. Male flowers have four stamens and female flowers have four staminodes. Flowering occurs in spring and summer and the fruit is a fleshy, oblong to oval, orange-red drupe long. The fruit is ripe from March to July and often persists on the tree for many months.[1] [2] [3] [4]

Taxonomy

Elaeodendron australe was first formally described in 1805 by Étienne Pierre Ventenat in his book Jardin de la Malmaison.[5] [6]

In 1825, de Candolle described two varieties in Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis and the names are accepted by the Australian Plant Census:

Distribution and habitat

Red olive-berry grows in eucalypt and rainforest ecotone areas, and in littoral or dry rainforest. It is found in north-eastern and central eastern Queensland and as far south as Tuross Head in New South Wales. An unusual thick-leaved form occurs in Mount Kaputar National Park and nearby western slopes and dry tableland gorges.

Use in horticulture

Seed germination is very slow, but reliable with around a 25% success rate after twelve months.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: F.A.Zich . B.P.M.Hyland . T.Whiffen . R.A.Kerrigan . Bernard Hyland . 2020 . Elaeodendron australe var. australe . Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants Edition 8 (RFK8) . . 25 June 2021.
  2. Web site: Conn . Barry J. . Elaeodendron australe . Royal Botanic Garden Sydney . 13 September 2020.
  3. Web site: Jessup . Laurence W. . Cassine australis (Vent.) Kuntze . Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra . 14 September 2020.
  4. Book: Floyd . Alexander G. . Rainforest Trees of Mainland South-eastern Australia . 1989 . Inkata Press . Victoria . 0909605572 . 88.
  5. Web site: Elaeodendron australe. APNI. 14 September 2020.
  6. Book: Ventenat . Étienne Pierre . Jardin de la Malmaison . 1805 . De l'imprimerie de Crapelet, et se trouve chez l'auteur . Paris . 117 . 14 September 2020.
  7. Web site: Elaeodendron australe var. australe. Australian Plant Census. 14 September 2020.
  8. Web site: Portenschlagia integrifolia. APNI. 14 September 2020.
  9. Web site: Elaeodendron australe var. integrifolium. Australian Plant Census. 14 September 2020.