Flindersia
| Flindersia | |
|---|---|
| |
| Flindersia brayleyana in Brisbane | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Sapindales |
| Family: | Rutaceae |
| Subfamily: | Zanthoxyloideae |
| Genus: | Flindersia R.Br.[1] |
| Type species | |
| Flindersia australis R.Br.[1]
| |
| Species | |
|
See text | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
| |
Flindersia is a genus of 17 species of small to large trees in the family Rutaceae. They have simple or pinnate leaves, flowers arranged in panicles at or near the ends of branchlets and fruit that is a woody capsule containing winged seeds. They grow naturally in Australia, the Moluccas, New Guinea and New Caledonia.
Description
[edit]Trees in the genus Flindersia have simple or pinnate leaves with up to sixteen leaflets, the side leaflets arranged in opposite pairs. The flowers are arranged in panicles at the ends of branchlets or in upper leaf axils and have five sepals and five petals. The flowers are bisexual, or sometimes only have stamens. There are five stamens opposite the sepals, alternating with five staminodes. The ovary has five locules and is more or less spherical with five shallow lobes and there are between four and six ovules in each locule. The fruit is a woody capsule splitting into five and contains brown, winged seeds.[2][3]
Taxonomy
[edit]The genus Flindersia was first formally described in 1814 by Robert Brown in Matthew Flinders' sea voyage journal A Voyage to Terra Australis.[4]
Species list
[edit]As of April 2025[update], Plants of the World Online accepts the following 17 species:[5]
- Flindersia acuminata C.T.White – silver silkwood, silver maple (Qld.)
- Flindersia amboinensis Poir. – (Moluccas to New Guinea)
- Flindersia australis R.Br. – Australian teak, crows ash (Qld., N.S.W.)
- Flindersia bennettii F.Muell. ex C.Moore – Bennett's ash (Qld., N.S.W.)
- Flindersia bourjotiana F.Muell. – Queensland silver ash (Qld.)
- Flindersia brassii T.G.Hartley & B.Hyland – hard scented maple, Claudie River scented maple – (Qld.)
- Flindersia brayleyana F.Muell. – Queensland maple, maple silkwood (Qld.)
- Flindersia collina F.M.Bailey – broad-leaved leopard tree (Qld., N.S.W.)
- Flindersia dissosperma (F.Muell.) Domin – scrub leopardwood (Qld.)
- Flindersia fournieri Pancher & Sebert – (New Caledonia)
- Flindersia ifflana F.Muell. – hickory ash, Cairns hickory (Qld.)
- Flindersia laevicarpa C.T.White & W.D.Francis
- Flindersia maculosa (Lindl.) Benth. – leopardwood, leopard tree (Qld., N.S.W.)
- Flindersia oppositifolia (F.Muell.) T.G.Hartley & Laurence W. Jessup – mountain silkwood (Qld.)
- Flindersia pimenteliana F.Muell. – maple silkwood, rose silkwood (New Guinea, Qld.)
- Flindersia schottiana F.Muell. – silver ash, cudgerie, bumpy ash (New Guinea, Qld., N.S.W.)
- Flindersia xanthoxyla (A.Cunn. ex Hook.) Domin – yellowwood, long jack (Qld., N.S.W.)
Distribution and habitat
[edit]Many species of Flindersia grow in rainforest. Of the seventeen species, fifteen occur in Australia, twelve of which are endemic.[2]
Uses
[edit]Some species yield timbers that are widely used for flooring and cabinet work.[2]
Gallery
[edit]-
Capsule of F. xanthoxyla -
Fruit capsule of F. australis -
Ripening fruit of F. schottiana -
Flowers of F. pimenteliana
References
[edit]- ^ a b c "Flindersia". Australian Plant Census. Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research, Australian Government. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
- ^ a b c Porteners, M. F. "Genus Flindersia". PlantNET (The NSW Plant Information Network System). Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust, Sydney. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
- ^ Hartley, T.G. (2022). Wilson, A.J.G. (ed.). "Flindersia". Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water: Canberra. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
- ^ "Flindersia". Australian Plant Name Index (APNI). Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research, Australian Government. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
- ^ "Flindersia F.L.Bauer". Plants of the World Online. Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 2025. Retrieved 21 April 2025.
Further reading
[edit]- Brown, Robert (1814). "Appendix III: General Remarks, Geographical and Systematical, on the Botany of Terra Australis". A Voyage to Terra Australis: Undertaken for the Purpose of Completing the Discovery of that Vast Country, and Prosecuted in the Years 1801, 1802, and 1803, in His Majesty's Ship the Investigator. By Flinders, Matthew. Vol. 2. London: G. Nicol & Son. pp. 533–612. Wikidata Q133863530.
External links
[edit]
- Queensland government list of hardwood timber species
- Flindersia australis in Botanical Dermatology Database
- BRAIN Brisbane Rainforest Action & Information Network