Silver aspen
Acronychia wilcoxiana in the Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Sapindales
Family: Rutaceae
Genus: Acronychia
Species:
A. wilcoxiana
Binomial name
Acronychia wilcoxiana
Synonyms[1]
  • Errerana wilcoxiana (F.Muell.) Kuntze
  • Pleiococca wilcoxiana F.Muell.
Leaves in Stony Range Botanic Garden, Dee Why

Acronychia wilcoxiana, commonly known as silver aspen,[2] doughwood, snowwood or mushyberry,[3] is a species of small rainforest tree that is endemic to eastern Australia. It has simple, elliptical to egg-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base, relatively large groups of whitish flowers in leaf axils and broadly oval to more or less spherical, white fruit.

Description

Acronychia wilcoxiana is a tree that typically grows to a height of 9–15 m (30–49 ft) with pinkish brown or dark brown bark and a crown of dark green leaves. The leaves are arranged in opposite pairs, and are elliptical to egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, 70–210 mm (2.8–8.3 in) long and 25–90 mm (0.98–3.54 in) wide on a petiole 6–30 mm (0.24–1.18 in) long. The flowers are arranged in relatively large groups 30–65 mm (1.2–2.6 in) long in leaf axils, each flower on a pedicel 0.5–3 mm (0.020–0.118 in) long. The four sepals are 1.5–3 mm (0.059–0.118 in) wide, the four petals whitish and 7.5–9 mm (0.30–0.35 in) long and the eight stamens alternate in length. Flowering occurs from January to May and the fruit is a fleshy, conical to spherical drupe 12–15 mm (0.47–0.59 in) long. The seeds are black, oval and about 4.5 mm (0.18 in) long.[2][4][5]

Taxonomy

The silver aspen was first formally described in 1875 by Ferdinand von Mueller who gave it the name Pleiococca wilcoxiana and published the description in Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae.[6][7] In 1974 Thomas Hartley changed the name to Acronychia wilcoxiana in the Journal of the Arnold Arboretum.[5][8] The species name honours James Fowler Wilcox, a 19th-century collector of birds and plants in northern New South Wales.[9]

Distribution and habitat

Acronychia wilcoxiana grows in rainforest, mostly between Fraser Island in south-east Queensland and Gosford in central-eastern New South Wales and from sea level to an altitude of 450 m (1,480 ft) but a small population of about eight mature trees has been recorded at Primbee in the Illawarra district.[2][4][10]

Ecology

The fruit of A. wilcoxiana are eaten by rainforest birds, including the wompoo fruit-dove.[2]

Conservation status

Silver aspen is listed as of "least concern" under the Queensland Government Nature Conservation Act 1992.[3]

Use in horticulture

Germination from seed is not easy, however, the removal of the fleshy aril from the seed will improve results. Seeds may germinate after 6 to 12 months.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 "Acronychia wilcoxiana". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Floyd, A. G. (2008). Rainforest Trees of Mainland South-eastern Australia (2nd, Revised ed.). Lismore, New South Wales: Terania Rainforest Publishing. p. 350. ISBN 978-0-958943-67-3. Retrieved 2010-09-07.
  3. 1 2 "Species profile—Acronychia wilcoxiana (silver aspen)". Government of Queensland, Department of Environment and Science. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  4. 1 2 Hartley, Thomas G. (2013). Wilson, Annette J.G. (ed.). Flora of Australia (Volume 26). Canberra: Australian Biological Resources Study. pp. 117–113. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  5. 1 2 Hartley, Thomas G. (1974). "A revision of the genus Acronychia (Rutaceae)". Journal of the Arnold Arboretum. 55 (3): 516–517. doi:10.5962/p.324717. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
  6. ↑ "Pleiococca wilcoxiana". APNI. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  7. ↑ von Mueller, Ferdinand (1875). Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae. Melbourne: Victorian Government Printer. pp. 117–118. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  8. ↑ "Acronychia wilcoxiana". APNI. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  9. ↑ Maiden, Joseph Henry (1908). "Wilcox, James Fowler (1823-1881)". Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria, Australian National Herbarium. Commonwealth of Australia. Retrieved 12 September 2010.
  10. ↑ "Seeds of a Survival Story". Illawarra Mercury. Archived from the original on 2012-12-31.
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