Wilkiea macrophylla



Wilkiea macrophylla, commonly known as large-leaved wilkiea, is a species of flowering plant in the family Monimiaceae, and is endemic to north-eastern Australia. It is a glabrous shrub or small tree with narrowly to broadly elliptic leaves, and male and female flowers on separate plants. Male flowers have 2 pairs of tepals and usually 2 pairs of stamens, and female flowers have 6 or 7 pairs of tepals and 13 to 20 carpels. The fruit is a glossy purplish to olive black drupe.

Description
Wilkiea macrophylla is a glabrous shrub or small tree, typically 1–6 m high. Its leaves are narrowly to broadly elliptic, sometimes broadly oblong, 65–240 mm long and 20–90 mm wide on a petiole 2–10 mm long. The leaves are thick and leathery with the midvein prominent on both surfaces, and sometimes there are prominent teeth on the edges. Male and female flowers are borne on separate plants, male flowers in leaf axils in groups of 3 to 9, 10–15 mm long, each flower oval, 2–3 mm in diameter on a pedicel about 3 mm long, usually with 6 tepals and 2 pairs of stamens. Female flowers are borne in leaf axils in groups of 7 to 9, about 15 mm long, each flower flattened spherical, 3–4 mm in diameter on a pedicel 4–6 mm long with 6 or 7 pairs of tepals and 30 to 20 carpels. Flowering occurs from December to February, and the fruit is a glossy purplish- to olive-black drupe, 15–20 mm long and 10–12 mm wide.

Taxonomy
This species was first formally described in 1838 by Allan Cunningham who gave it the name Hedycarya macrophylla in the Annals of Natural History. In 1868, Alphonse Pyramus de Candolle transferred the species to Wilkiea as W. macrophylla in Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis.

Distribution and habitat
Large-leaved wilkiea grows in rainforest at altitudes 510 and 610 m from central Queensland to the Richmond River in north-eastern New South Wales.