''Melicope bonwickii'', commonly known as the yellow evodia or yellow corkwood, is a species of tree in the family Rutaceae and is

native Native may refer to: People * '' Jus sanguinis'', nationality by blood * '' Jus soli'', nationality by location of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Nat ...

to Java and the Philippines, and southward to New Guinea and north-eastern Australia. It has

trifoliate The following terms are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (that is, the leaf blade or 'lamina' is undivided) or compound (that is, the leaf blade is divided into two or more leaflets ...

leaves and small pink flowers borne in panicles in leaf axils.

Description

''Melicope bonwickii'' grows up to tall. The leaves are trifoliate on a

petiole Petiole may refer to: *Petiole (botany), the stalk of a leaf, attaching the blade to the stem *Petiole (insect anatomy) In entomology, petiole is the technical term for the narrow waist of some hymenopteran insects, especially ants, bees, and ...

long, the end leaflet egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base,

sessile Sessility, or sessile, may refer to: * Sessility (motility), organisms which are not able to move about * Sessility (botany), flowers or leaves that grow directly from the stem or peduncle of a plant * Sessility (medicine), tumors and polyps that ...

, long and wide. The flowers are

bisexual Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...

and are borne in panicles long, in leaf axils. The

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 Etymology The term ''sepalum'' ...

s are more or less round, long and joined at the base. The petals are pink, rarely white, about and are hairy with a ridge on the back. There are four

stamen The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...

s. Flowering occurs from March to June and the fruit consists of up to four follicles long.

Taxonomy

This species was first formally described in 1865 by

Ferdinand von Mueller Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Victoria, Australia ...

who gave it the name ''Euodia bonwickii'' and published the description in ''

Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae ''Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae'' is a series of papers written by the Victorian Government botanist Ferdinand von Mueller in which he published many of his approximately 2000 descriptions of new taxa of Australian plants. Including the p ...

'' from specimens collected by

John Dallachy John Dallachy (c. 1808 – 4 June 1871) was a curator of Melbourne Botanic Gardens and a plant collector. Dallachy was born in Elginshire, Scotland. He worked as a gardener for the Earl of Aberdeen and Kew Gardens. In 1847, he went to Ceylon t ...

. In 1994,

Thomas Gordon Hartley Thomas Gordon Hartley (9 January 1931 in Beaumont, Texas – 8 March 2016 in Canberra, Australia) was an American botanist. Biography In 1955 Hartley graduated in botany with the academic degree Bachelor of Science at the University of Wisconsin-E ...

changed the name to ''Melicope bonwickii'' in the journal '' Sandakania''. 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 ...

(''bonwickii'') honours

James Bonwick James Bonwick (8 July 1817 – 6 February 1906) was an English-born Australian historical and educational writer. Early life Bonwick was born Lingfield, Surrey, England, the eldest son of James Bonwick, carpenter, and his second wife Mary Ann ...

Distribution and habitat

''Melicope bonwickii'' occurs naturally in Java and the Philippines, and southward to New Guinea and north-eastern Australia. It grows in rainforest from sea level to an altitude of . In Australia it is found from 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 ...

to near Proserpine in northern Queensland.

Uses

This species is said to be used to treat dysentery in the

Tanimbar Islands The Tanimbar Islands (; ), also called ''Timur Laut'' (literally, "North East"; ), are a group of about 65 islands in the Maluku province of Indonesia. The largest and most central of the islands is Yamdena; others include Selaru to the sout ...

. It is harvested for its timber.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15395074 bonwickii Trees of Java Trees of Borneo Trees of Malesia Trees of New Guinea Trees of Australia Plants described in 1865 Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller