''Irvingbaileya'' is a

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

genus—that is, a genus that contains just one species—of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

s in the family Stemonuraceae. The sole species is ''Irvingbaileya australis'', commonly known as buff beech or wax berry, a rainforest tree endemic to

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.

Description

''Irvingbaileya australis'' is a small tree growing to about high. The leaves are arranged alternately on the twigs, are held on short petioles, and measure up to long and wide. They are narrowly elliptic in shape, with 5–8 pairs of lateral veins either side of the midrib. The inflorescences are produced either terminally or in the . They are s up to long, carrying up to 20 small flowers. This species is

dioecious Dioecy ( ; ; adj. dioecious, ) is a characteristic of certain species that have distinct unisexual individuals, each producing either male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproduction is ...

, meaning that male and female flowers are borne on separate plants. The fruit is distinctive — a green, flattened, elliptic

drupe In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is a type of fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pip'' (UK), ''pit'' (US), ''stone'', or ''pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed ...

about long, wide and containing a single seed, with a white, succulent, waxy appendage attached to one side.

Taxonomy

The species was first described—as ''Tylecarpus australis'', family

Icacinaceae The Icacinaceae, also called the white pear family, are a family (biology), family of flowering plants,"Icacinaceae" At: Angiosperm Phylogeny Website At: Missouri Botanical Garden Website (see ''External links'' below). consisting of trees, shrub ...

—in 1918 by the Australian botanist

Cyril Tenison White Cyril Tenison White (17 August 1890 – 15 August 1950) was an Australian botanist. Early life White was born in Brisbane, Queensland, to Henry White, a trade broker, and Louisa (''nee'' Bailey). He attended school at South Brisbane State Sch ...

and published in ''Contributions to the Queensland flora'' in the Botany Bulletin of the Department of Agriculture, Queensland. The

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular wikt:en:specimen, specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally associated. In other words, a type is an example that serves to ancho ...

was collected near the

Johnstone River The Johnstone River, comprising the North Johnstone River and the South Johnstone River, is a river system in Far North and North Queensland, Australia. The headwaters of the river system rise in the Atherton Tablelands. The north branch o ...

south of

Cairns Cairns (; ) is a city in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. In the , Cairns had a population of 153,181 people. The city was founded in 1876 and named after William Cairns, Sir W ...

In 1940 the American botanist and Icacinaceae specialist Richard A. Howard moved the species to the genus '' Medusanthera'', and then in 1943 to the newly-created genus ''Irvingbaileya''. Later still the family Icacinaceae was found to be

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage that includes organisms with mixed evolutionary origin but does not include their most recent common ancestor. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as Homoplasy, homoplasies ...

, and in 2001 the Swedish botanist Jesper Kårehed moved this genus to Stemonuraceae.

Etymology

The genus name ''Irvingbaileya'' was chosen by Howard to honour Irving Widmer Bailey (1884–1967), an American botanist known for his work in plant anatomy. The

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

''australis'' means southern, and refers to the plant's origin in Australia.

Distribution and habitat

This species is endemic to northeastern Queensland, and is found at altitudes from sea level mostly to about , although collections have been made at up to . It grows in well developed rainforest from near Rossville to near Tully.

Conservation

, this species has been assessed to be of

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...

by the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

(IUCN) and by the Queensland Government under its Nature Conservation Act.

Ecology

The fallen fruit is collected by male

satin bowerbird The satin bowerbird (''Ptilonorhynchus violaceus'') is a species of passerine bird in the bowerbird family Ptilonorhynchidae that is endemic to eastern Australia. It is the only species placed in the genus ''Ptilonorhynchus''. Taxonomy The sati ...

s (''Ptilonorhynchus violaceus''), and used as decoration for their bowers. They are also eaten by a variety of fauna, including

cassowaries Cassowaries (; Biak language, Biak: ''man suar'' ; ; Papuan_languages, Papuan: ''kasu weri'' ) are flightless birds of the genus ''Casuarius'', in the order Casuariiformes. They are classified as ratites, flightless birds without a keel (bird a ...

(''Casuarius casuarius''), giant white-tailed rats (''Uromys caudimaculatus'') and other rodents, crimson rosellas (''Platycercus elegans''), spectacled flying foxes (''Pteropus conspicillatus'') and

musky rat-kangaroo The musky rat-kangaroo (''Hypsiprymnodon moschatus'') is a small marsupial found only in the rainforests of northeastern Australia. First described in the later 19th century, the only other species are known from fossil specimens. They are simil ...

s (''Hypsiprymnodon moschatus'').

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=Q16889894, from2=Q15384476 Stemonuraceae Monotypic asterid genera Dioecious plants Plants described in 1943 Endemic flora of Queensland