''Graptophyllum ilicifolium'', commonly known as the Mount Blackwood holly, is a species of plant in the family

Acanthaceae Acanthaceae () is a Family (biology), family (the acanthus family) of dicotyledonous flowering plants containing almost 250 genera and about 2500 species. Most are Tropics, tropical Herbaceous plant, herbs, shrubs, or twining vines; some are epip ...

. It is native to central

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia, and has a conservation status of vulnerable.

Description

Mount Blackwood holly is a large rainforest shrub which grows in

granitic A granitoid is a broad term referring to a diverse group of coarse-grained igneous rocks that are widely distributed across the globe, covering a significant portion of the Earth's exposed surface and constituting a large part of the continental ...

soils. It has shiny, dark green leaves which resemble those of the unrelated

holly ''Ilex'' () or holly is a genus of over 570 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. ''Ilex'' has the most species of any woody dioecious angiosperm genus. The species are evergreen o ...

, and grows best in moist, semi-shaded, well-drained, well-mulched soils. The shrub grows to 5 metres in height and has leaves 7.5 to 10 centimetres long which are shiny, noticeably veined, dark green in colour and have a spinous margin. The flowers are red and in short clusters, each about 2 to 2.5 centimetres in length.

History

The species was originally collected from Mount Blackwood, north of

Mackay Mackay may refer to: *Clan Mackay, the Scottish clan from which the surname "MacKay" derives Mackay may also refer to: Places Australia * Mackay Region, a local government area ** Mackay, Queensland, a city in the above region *** Mackay Airport ...

, in the 1800s and was part of a collection by Nernst which is now at the Melbourne Herbarium. In 1984, plants described in this collection were found in the Mount Blackwood and Mount Jukes areas. These were collected and identified to be ''Graptophyllum ilicifolium'' by the Queensland Herbarium. After identification, the Mount Blackwood holly was propagated and trialled by Society for Growing Australian Plants Mackay Branch members. It was offered to the general public in 1991 at the Australian Plant Spectacular, then adopted as the floral emblem of the Mackay Branch of the Society for Growing Australian Plants in 1992 and the Mackay Regional Botanic Gardens in 2003.

References

External links

View a map
of herbarium records of this species at the

Australasian Virtual Herbarium The ''Australasian Virtual Herbarium'' (AVH) is an online resource that allows access to plant specimen data held by various Australian and New Zealand herbaria. It is part of the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA), and was formed by the amalgama ...

View observations
of this species on

iNaturalist iNaturalist is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit social network of naturalists, citizen scientists, and biologists built on the concept of mapping and sharing observations of biodiversity across the globe. iNaturalist may be accessed via its web ...

See images
of this species on Flickriver.com {{Taxonbar, from=Q15326163 ilicifolium Flora of Queensland Lamiales of Australia Vulnerable flora of Australia Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller