''Jagera pseudorhus'', commonly named foambark, is a species of rainforest trees, in the northern half of eastern Australia and in

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

, constituting part of the

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 ...

family

Sapindaceae The Sapindaceae are a family (biology), family of flowering plants in the order Sapindales known as the soapberry family. It contains 138 genera and 1,858 accepted species. Examples include Aesculus, horse chestnut, maples, ackee and lychee. The ...

. Named for the

saponin Saponins (Latin ''sapon'', 'soap' + ''-in'', 'one of') are bitter-tasting, usually toxic plant-derived secondary metabolites. They are organic chemicals that become foamy when agitated in water and have high molecular weight. They are present ...

foam that forms on the bark after heavy rain. In Australia, they grow naturally from the

Manning River Manning River (Birpai language, Biripi: ''Boolumbahtee''), an open and Breakwater (structure), trained mature wind wave, wave dominated estuary#Lagoon-type or bar-built, barrier estuary, is located in the Northern Tablelands and Mid North Coast ...

(35° S),

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

to the

Bloomfield River The Bloomfield River is a river in the Wet Tropics of Far North Queensland, Australia, noted for its Bloomfield River cod fish species, found only in the river. Course and features The river rises in the Great Dividing Range below Zig Zag and ...

(15° S) in far north

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 ...

. In New Guinea they grow naturally widespread. The habitat is tropical and sub-tropical rainforests,

monsoon forest Seasonal tropical forest, also known as moist deciduous, semi-evergreen seasonal, tropical mixed or monsoon forest, typically contains a range of tree species: only some of which drop some or all of their leaves during the dry season. This tropic ...

and

gallery forest A gallery forest is one formed as a corridor along rivers or wetlands, projecting into landscapes that are otherwise only sparsely treed such as savannas, grasslands, or deserts. The gallery forest maintains a more temperate microclimate above th ...

on soils of good fertility. Other common names include ferntop and pink tamarind. Two varieties have formal botanical descriptions: * ''Jagera pseudorhus'' var. ''integerrima'' – endemic to the

Atherton Tableland The Atherton Tableland is a fertile plateau, which is part of the Great Dividing Range in Queensland, Australia. It has very deep, rich basaltic soils and the main industry is agriculture. The principal river flowing across the plateau is the B ...

, Qld, Australia * ''Jagera pseudorhus'' var. ''pseudorhus'' – NSW, Qld, Australia and New Guinea

Description

Growing to tall and in trunk diameter. Though smaller in cultivation. The bark is smooth and grey with horizontal raised ridges. The base of larger trees are often flanged. Leaves are alternate and pinnate with eight to twenty six leaflets. The leaflets 4 to 6 cm long. Toothed, not equal at the base, with a pointed tip. Branchlets and the underside of leaves hairy. Yellow brown flowers form on

panicle In botany, a panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a p ...

s in the months of March to May. The fruit forms in August to November. Being a hairy capsule with three cells around long. Capsules mature to a brown colour, after being a violet pink. One seed in each cell, being covered in

aril An aril (), also called arillus, is a specialized outgrowth from a seed that partly or completely covers the seed. An arillode, or false aril, is sometimes distinguished: whereas an aril grows from the attachment point of the seed to the ova ...

. Care needs to be taken when handling the capsule, as the hairs may cause skin irritation. Fruit eaten by the

Australian king parrot The Australian king parrot (''Alisterus scapularis'') is a species of parrot endemic to eastern Australia ranging from Cooktown in Queensland to Port Campbell in Victoria (Australia), Victoria. Found in humid and heavily forested upland regions o ...

and the

green catbird The green catbird (''Ailuroedus crassirostris'') is a species of bowerbird found in subtropical forests along the east coast of Australia, from southeastern Queensland to southern New South Wales. It is named after its distinctive call which soun ...

. Germination from fresh seed is not particularly difficult.

Uses

The form of this tree makes it well suited as an ornamental.

Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

use foam from crushed bark or leaves as a fish poison to kill fish enabling easy catching. The foam was also used as a soap.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5390652 Sapindaceae Sapindales of Australia Trees of Australia Flora of Queensland Flora of New South Wales Ornamental trees