Species profile—Cupaniopsis shirleyana (wedge-leaf tuckeroo)

Classification

Plantae (plants) → Equisetopsida (land plants) → Sapindaceae → Cupaniopsis shirleyana (wedge-leaf tuckeroo)

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Species details

Kingdom

Plantae (plants)

Class

Equisetopsida (land plants)

Family

Sapindaceae

Scientific name

Cupaniopsis shirleyana (F.M.Bailey) Radlk.

Common name

wedge-leaf tuckeroo

WildNet taxon ID

14648

Alternate name(s)

kooraloo
wedge leaf tuckeroo

Nature Conservation Act 1992 (NCA) status

Vulnerable

Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC) status

Vulnerable

Conservation significant

Yes

Confidential

No

Endemicity

Native

Pest status

Nil

Short Notes

(F.M.Bailey) Radlk. correct, R.J.Henderson, Oct2002.

Description

Cupaniopsis shirleyana is a shrub or small tree that grows up to 6 m in height. The young parts and branchlets are covered with rusty hairs. The leaves are 5 to 13 cm long and divided into 6 to 14 leaflets. The leaflets are stiff and leathery, and are obovate or obtriangular, 10 to 45 mm long, by 8 to 32 mm wide, and are either opposite or alternate along the main leaf stem. The top half of each leaflet edge has one to five irregular, sharp serrations. The upper leaflet surface is glossy green and the lower surface duller green and hairy. The creamy flowers are in spikes, 7 to 20 cm long. Each flower is up to 7 mm in diameter and has a 1 mm long, hairy stalk. The calyx lobes and petals are 4 to 5 mm long and 2 mm long respectively. The green, hairy fruit is a globular to obovoid, shallow three-lobed capsule, measuring 12 to 18 mm long and 1.5 to 1.7 cm wide. Within each fruit are two to three black seeds, 9 to 14 mm long by 7 to 9 mm wide. The seeds are covered or almost so by an orange fleshy coat (aril) (Reynolds in part, 1984; Wang in part, 1997),
Cupaniopsis shirleyana is readily distinguished by its 6 to 14 small, serrate, obtriangular leaflets.

Map

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Distribution

Cupaniopsis shirleyana is restricted to south east Queensland, from Brisbane, north to Bundaberg. Cupaniopsis shirleyana is known from It occurs in Pine Mountain Reserve, Mt Gravatt, Cold Creek State Forest and Miva State Forest (Queensland Herbarium, 2012).

Distributional limits

-24.82822, 152.0728833
-27.5157332, 153.0957401

Range derivation

Range derived from extent of the taxon's verified records

Habitat

Cupaniopsis shirleyana occurs at 20 to 550 m elevation. Recorded in a variety of rainforest types including vine thicket and dry rainforest. Occurs on hillsides, mountain tops, lower slopes of valleys, stream beds and along riverbanks. Grows in a variety of soil types (Queensland Herbarium, 2012).

Reproduction

Cupaniopsis shirleyana flowers mainly in May to July, occasionally January or March. Fruiting has been recorded from July to December (Queensland Herbarium, 2012).

Threatening processes

The main identified threats to Cupaniopsis shirleyana are clearing, weeds and disturbance from activities such as roadworks and other infrastructure works, including associated drainage works. These activities can impact directly on the species and also promote canopy gaps which are readily colonised by weed species, such as lantana (Lantana camara), which can form dense thickets. In Mary's Creek State Forest the site is severely infested with Lantana camara, Asparagus africanus, Macfadyena unguis-cati, Aristolochia elegans and Solanum mauritianum (DERM, 2010a; DERM, 2010b: DERM, 2010c; DSEWPC, 2012; Queensland Herbarium, 2012).
Urban development also is considered a direct threat to C. shirleyana (DERM, 2010b).

Status notes

Cupaniopsis shirleyana is listed as Vulnerable under the Queensland Nature Conservation Act 1992 and Vulnerable under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999

Management recommendations

Regional and local priority actions to support the recovery of Cupaniopsis shirleyana are outlined by DSEWPC (2012). A summary of these include: avoiding habitat loss, disturbance and modification (e.g. identify populations of high conservation priority; ensure road widening and maintenance activities in areas where C. shirleyana occurs do not impact on known populations; manage any changes to hydrology that may result in changes to the water table levels, increased run-off, sedimentation or pollution); controlling invasive weeds (e.g. develop and implement a management plan for the control of lantana and other weeds in the local region); managing fire (e.g. develop and implement a suitable fire management strategy for Cupaniopsis shirleyana); increasing conservation information (raise awareness of C. shirleyana in the local community); and enabling recovery of additional sites and/or populations (DSEWPC, 2012).
Recommended management actions are also described in DERM (2010, a, b, c).

Notes

Cupaniopsis shirleyana has previously been broadly circumscribed to include other species (e.g. C. sp. (Watalgan Bean 8611) by Reynolds (1985). C. sp. Watalgan differs from C. shirleyana by its fewer (4 to 8) larger (4 to 15 cm long) leaflets that are markedly different in shape and size (G. Guymer, pers. comm.). C. shirleyana occurs in the following Queensland pastoral districts: Moreton, Wide Bay.
Contributors: Ron Booth 29/06/2012; Gordon Guymer 29/05/2013

References

Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities (DSEWPC) (2012, in part). Cupaniopsis shirleyana in Species Profile and Threats Database, Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, Canberra. Accessed 25/06/2012. http://www.environment.gov.au/sprat.
Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) (2010a, in part). Burnett Mary Natural Resource Management Region Back on Track Actions for Biodiversity. Department of Environment and Resource Management, Brisbane.
Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) (2010c, in part). South East Queensland Natural Resource Management Region Back on Track Actions for Biodiversity. Department of Environment and Resource Management, Brisbane.
Queensland Herbarium (2012). Specimen label information. Queensland Herbarium. Accessed 19/01/2012.
Reynolds, S.T. (1984, in part). Notes on Sapindaceae, III. Austrobaileya 2 (1): 46.
Wang, J. (1997, in part). Cupaniopsis shirleyana Species Management Profile. Department of Natural Resources, Brisbane.

Profile author

Gordon Guymer (29/05/2013)

Other resources

• Species Profile and Threats Database (SPRAT)
• The Australasian Virtual Herbarium (AVH)
• Atlas of Living Australia

Data source

This profile data is sourced from the QLD Wildlife Data API using the Get species by ID function used under CC-By 4.0.
https://apps.des.qld.gov.au/species/?op=getspeciesbyid&taxonid=14648.

This information is sourced from the WildNet database managed by the Queensland Department of Environment and Science.