Native holly
Mount Archer National Park, Australia
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Malpighiales
Family: Euphorbiaceae
Genus: Alchornea
Species:
A. ilicifolia
Binomial name
Alchornea ilicifolia
Synonyms[3]

Homotypic

  • Alchornea aquifolia Domin
  • Coelebogyne ilicifolia (J.Sm.)

Heterotypic

  • Alchornea thozetiana (Baill.) Benth.
  • Alchornea thozetiana var. longifolia Benth.
  • Caelebogyne aquifolium (Js.Sm.) Domin
  • Caelebogyne thozetiana (Baill.) Pax & K.Hoffm.
  • Cladodes thozetiana Baill.
  • Sapium aquifolium Js.Sm.
  • Sapium berberifolium Meisn.

Alchornea ilicifolia, commonly known as the native holly, is a bush of eastern Australia. It grows in or on the edges of the drier rainforests in coastal parts of New South Wales and Queensland.

Description

The native holly is a shrub or rarely a small tree up to 6 m (20 ft) tall and with a trunk that is usually crooked, with pale grey smooth bark, with some pustules and lenticels. Small branches greenish or fawn in color, with paler lenticels.[4][5] The leaves are holly-like in appearance, 2 to 8 cm (0.79 to 3.15 in) long and 2 to 5 cm (0.79 to 1.97 in) wide.[4][5][6] They are ovate or rhomboidal in shape with three or four acute lobes on each side, each of which is armed with a sharp spine.[4][5][6] They are stiff and glabrous with a petiole around 3 mm (0.12 in) long.[4][5][6]

Flowers and fruit

Greenish flowers appear in November, on racemes up to 5 cm (2.0 in) long, with male and female flowers on separate plants.[4][5][6] The fruit is a dark brown, three-lobed capsule about 6 to 8 mm (0.24 to 0.31 in) in diameter, each lobe containing one seed.[4][5][6] The plant may flower and fruit at any time of year after rain events.[5]

Taxonomy

The botanist John Smith originally described this species as Caelebogyne ilicifolia in 1839, from three specimens collected by Allan Cunningham in 1829.[7] The Swiss botanist Johann Müller gave it its current name in 1865.[2] The generic name Alchornea honours the English botanist Stanesby Alchorne,[8] while the species epithet ilicifolia refers to the holly-like leaves (Ilex).

Distribution and habitat

This species grows in vine thickets and monsoon forest on a variety of soil types, from Jamberoo on the south coast of New South Wales to Atherton in far north Queensland.[4][5][6]

Ecology

Alchornea ilicifolia is a host plant for the larvae of the common albatross butterfly and the moth Dichomeris mesoctenis.[9][10]

References

  1. ↑ "Species profile—Alchornea ilicifolia". Queensland Department of Environment and Science. Queensland Government. 2022. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
  2. 1 2 "Alchornea ilicifolia". Australian Plant Name Index (APNI). Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
  3. 1 2 "Alchornea ilicifolia (Js.Sm.) Müll.Arg". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "PlantNET - FloraOnline". PlantNET (The NSW Plant Information Network System). Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust, Sydney. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Forster, Paul I. (2022). Moon, C.; Orchard, A.E. (eds.). "Alchornea ilicifolia". Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, the Environment and Water: Canberra. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 F.A.Zich; B.P.M.Hyland; T.Whiffen; R.A.Kerrigan (2020). "Alchornea ilicifolia". Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants Edition 8 (RFK8). Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research (CANBR), Australian Government. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
  7. ↑ Smith, John (1839). "Notice of a Plant which produces perfect Seeds without any apparent Action of Pollen". Transactions of the Linnean Society of London. 18 (4): 509. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.1838.tb00200.x. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
  8. ↑ Cooper, Wendy; Cooper, William T. (June 2004). Fruits of the Australian Tropical Rainforest. Clifton Hill, Victoria, Australia: Nokomis Editions. p. 171. ISBN 9780958174213.
  9. ↑ "Alchornea ilicifolia (EUPHORBIACEAE); Native holly". Archived from the original on 26 June 2010. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
  10. ↑ Robinson, Gaden S.; Ackery, Phillip R.; Kitching, Ian; Beccaloni, George W.; Hernández, Luis M. (2023). "HOSTS". HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants. Natural History Museum. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
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