Species profile—Omphalea celata
Classification
Plantae (plants) → Equisetopsida (land plants) → Euphorbiaceae → Omphalea celata
Sighting data
Species details
- Kingdom
- Plantae (plants)
- Class
- Equisetopsida (land plants)
- Family
- Euphorbiaceae
- Scientific name
- Omphalea celata P.I.Forst.
- WildNet taxon ID
- 6632
- 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
- two sheets plus spirit, status annotated by author
- Description
- Omphalea celata is a small tree growing to 12 m high with glossy, cream coloured bark. The leaves are arranged alternately along the branchlets, on stalks 20 to 75 mm long. The leaf blades are 45 to 120 mm long and 16 to 80 mm wide. The leaves are broadest below the centre, hairless, with 8 to 14 lateral veins diverging on each side of the midrib and running approximately parallel to each other, with a network of minor veins between them. The upper leaf surface is dark grey-green with obscure venation, the lower surface pale grey-green with distinct venation. The leaf tip gradually tapers to a point; the base is gradually tapering or wedge-shaped.
This species has separate male and female flowers on the same plant. Inflorescences are branched, containing male and female flowers, with male flowers greatly outnumbering the female. Both male and female flowers lack petals and have green sepals 2 to 3 mm long. The fruit are approximately spherical, two or three-lobed with a pointed apex, 50 to 60 mm long by 50 to 60 mm wide, thick-walled, with a fleshy outer layer and a woody inner layer (Forster, 1995).
Omphalea celata is a tree with penninerved foliage whereas O. papuana and O. queenslandica are both scandent lianes with palminerved foliage (Forster, 1995).
This species was formerly known as Aleurites sp. (Hazlewood Gorge, S.G. Pearson SP439) (Forster, 1995). It is a host-plant for the endemic Australian day-flying Zodiac Moth (Alcides zodiaca) (Forster and Sankowsky 1995). - Map
- View Map
- Distribution
- Omphalea celata has a very restricted distribution in central Queensland. It is known from two localities; Hazlewood Gorge west of Mackay and on Gloucester Island north of Proserpine. This species is reserved in Gloucester Island National Park and Homevale National Park (Queensland Herbarium, 2012).
- Distributional limits
- -19.9901106, 148.4555555
-21.4586159, 148.5427554 - Range derivation
- Range derived from extent of the taxon's verified records
- Habitat
- Omphalea celata occurs in fragmented semi evergreen vine thicket or araucarian microphyll vine forest. Recorded along watercourses in steep sided gorges and gullies on weathered metamorphic or granitic soils (Queensland Herbarium, 2012). Associated species include Eucalyptus raveretiana, E. tereticornis, Lysiphyllum hookeri and Ficus opposita (Queensland Herbarium, 2012).
- Reproduction
- Omphalea celata has been reported flowering from June to December and fruiting from December to February (Queensland Herbarium, 2012).
- Threatening processes
- The main potential threats to Omphalea celata include invasion by exotic weeds, such as Lantana (Lantana camara), and damage to plants from landslide at the Hazelwood Gorge population (Forster, 1995).
- Status notes
- Omphalea celata is listed as Vulnerable under the Queensland Nature Conservation Act, 1992.
Omphalea celata is listed as Vulnerable under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) - Management recommendations
- Regional and local priority actions to support the recovery of Omphalea celata are outlined by DSEWPC (2012). A summary of these include: avoid habitat loss, disturbance and modification (e.g. monitor known populations to identify key threats; monitor the of recovery, including the effectiveness of management actions and the need to adapt them if necessary); control invasive weeds (e.g. develop and implement a management plan, in conjunction with existing local and national weed management plans, for the control of Lantana; identify and remove weeds in the local area, which could become a threat to O. celata, using appropriate methods); increase conservation information (e.g. raise awareness of O. celata within the local community); enable recovery of additional sites and/or populations (e.g. undertake appropriate seed collection and storage; investigate options for linking, enhancing or establishing additional populations).
- Notes
- Occurs in the following Queensland pastoral districts: North Kennedy, South Kennedy.
- References
- Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities (DSEWPC) (2012). Omphalea celata in Species Profile and Threats Database, Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, Canberra. Accessed 29/05/2012. http://www.environment.gov.au/sprat.
Forster, P.I. and Sankowsky, G. (1995). New Euphorbiaceae host records for the Zodiac Moth (Alcides zodiaca (Lepidoptera: Uraniidae)). The Australian Entomologist. 22 (1):15.
Forster, P.I. (1995). Omphalea celata, a new species of Euphorbiaceae from central Queensland. Austrobaileya 4 (3): 1-5.
Halford, D. (1995). Omphalea celata Species Management Profile. Department of Natural Resources, Brisbane.
Queensland Herbarium (2012). Specimen label information. Queensland Herbarium. Accessed 20/03/2012. - Profile author
- Ronald Booth (10/07/2012)
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=6632.
This information is sourced from the WildNet database managed by the Queensland Department of Environment and Science.
