Species profile—Apatophyllum teretifolium
Classification
Plantae (plants) → Equisetopsida (land plants) → Celastraceae → Apatophyllum teretifolium
Sighting data
Species details
- Kingdom
- Plantae (plants)
- Class
- Equisetopsida (land plants)
- Family
- Celastraceae
- Scientific name
- Apatophyllum teretifolium A.R.Bean & Jessup
- WildNet taxon ID
- 26373
- Synonym(s)
- Apatophyllum sp. (Expedition Range E.J. Thompson AQ440723)
- Alternate name(s)
- cliff apatophyllum
- Nature Conservation Act 1992 (NCA) status
- Near threatened
- Conservation significant
- Yes
- Confidential
- No
- Endemicity
- Native
- Pest status
- Nil
- Description
- Apatophyllum teretifolium is a glabrous, densely branched, rounded shrub growing 25 to 40 cm high. The leaves are sessile, opposite to subopposite or occasionally alternate, linear in shape and 8 to 12 mm long and 0.3 to 0.5 mm wide. The leaf apex is acute to acuminate and pungent-pointed. The stipules are linear, 0.9 to 1.5 mm long, brown, persistent, mostly broad based, with 2 or 3 short lateral lobes and an acute to acuminate apex.
The inflorescences are axillary, reduced to a single white flower, with 1 or sometimes 2 pairs of empty pherophylls shortly distal to the base of the axis. Anthopodia is 1.7 to 2.5 mm long. Pherophylls are cymbiform, 0.9 to 1.5 mm long, with an acute apex and denticulate margins. The sepals are deltate, 0.6 to 0.7 mm long, persistent on mature capsules, with an acuminate apex and denticulate margins. The petals are deltate, 0.9 to 1.2 mm long by 0.7 to 0.9 mm wide at the base, white, with an acute apex and entire margins. There are 4 or 5 stamens, equal in number to the petals and inserted on the margin of the disk. The capsule is compressed obovoid, 2-valved, 5.2 to 6 mm long and 2.0 to 2.8 mm wide, with a smooth or minutely papillose surface. The seeds are ellipsoidal, up to 3.2 mm long and 1.4 mm in diameter. The testa is dark brown, smooth but with very fine transverse markings. The aril is white and clasping at the base of the seed (Bean and Jessup, 2000).
A. teretifolium differs from A. constablei by the shorter stipules, longer fruits, the predominately 4-merous flowers and the shorter petals (Bean and Jessup, 2000). - Distribution
- Apatophyllum teretifolium occurs in Expedition Range, just west of Expedition Range State Forest; Expedition National Park, NW of Taroom; Carnarvon National Park, NNW of Injune; Lonesome National Park, NE of Injune; Barakula State Forest near Chinchilla and Nour Nour National Park, NW of Gayndah (Queensland Herbarium, 2012).
- Distributional limits
- -24.6593333, 148.4052886
-26.1625878, 151.4427394 - Range derivation
- Range derived from extent of the taxon's verified records
- Habitat
- Apatophyllum teretifolium is found in: woodland consisting of Eucalyptus decorticans and/or Acacia shirleyi, with Callitris endlicheri and sometimes with E. cloeziana, Corymbia hendersonii and E. exserta; woodland of Corymbia citriodora, C. watsoniana and Eucalyptus mediocris on sandstone; low woodland of Eucalyptus tenuipes, C. trachyphloia on shallow sandy soil; and Corymbia hendersonii, Syncarpia glomulifera, Allocasuarina littoralis woodland with a dense shrubby understorey including Xylomelum cunninghamianum, Banksia collina, Persoonia sp. and Xanthorrhoea sp. Apatophyllum teretifolium occurs on steep rocky slopes around the tops and bases of cliff lines and on the ends of rocky spurs (DERM, 2009; Queensland Herbarium, 2012).
- Reproduction
- Flowering of Apatophyllum teretifolium has been recorded in March, May, September and November. Fruiting has been recorded in March, May and November (Queensland Herbarium, 2012).
- Threatening processes
- A large proportion of seeds are evidently destroyed by caterpillars. Insect predation is documented as a likely limiting factor for regeneration of this species (Bean and Jessup, 2000).
- Status notes
- Apatophyllum teretifolium is listed as Near Threatened under the Queensland Nature Conservation Act 1992.
- Management recommendations
- There are no listed management recommendations for Apatophyllum teretifolium.
- Notes
- Apatophyllum teretifolium is located within Burnett and Leichardt pastoral districts (Bostock and Holland, 2010; Queensland Herbarium, 2012).
- References
- Bean, A.R. and Jessup, L.W. (2000). Two new species of Apatophyllum McGillivray (Celastraceae) from Queensland. Austrobaileya 5 (4): 693.
Bostock, P.D. and Holland, A.E. (eds) (2010). Census of the Queensland Flora 2010. Queensland Herbarium, Department of Environment and Resource Management, Brisbane.
Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) (2009). Expedition National Park Vegetation Report (Draft).
Queensland Herbarium (2011). Specimen label information. Queensland Herbarium. Accessed 07/02/2012. - Profile author
- Lynise Wearne (06/02/2012)
Other resources
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=26373.
This information is sourced from the WildNet database managed by the Queensland Department of Environment and Science.
