''Melicope elleryana'', commonly known as pink flowered doughwood, pink evodia, corkwood, or saruwa, is a species of rainforest shrub or tree in the family

Rutaceae The Rutaceae () is a family (biology), family, commonly known as the rueRUTACEAE
in Bo ...

, 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 New Guinea, parts of eastern Indonesia, the Solomon Islands and northern 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 pink to white,

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 ...

flowers arranged in

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 leaf axils.

Description

''Melicope elleryana'' is a shrub or tree that typically grows to a height of with a trunk diameter of about . The bark is pale brown and corky, especially at the base of the trunk. The leaves are arranged in opposite pairs and 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 leaflets are elliptical, sometimes egg-shaped, long and wide, the end leaflet on a

petiolule In botany, the petiole () is the stalk that attaches the leaf blade to the stem. It is able to twist the leaf to face the sun, producing a characteristic foliage arrangement (spacing of blades), and also optimizing its exposure to sunlight. Outg ...

long. The flowers are bisexual and arranged in panicles long. 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 round to egg-shaped, long and joined at the base. The petals are pink to white, long and 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 November to February and the fruit consists of up to four follicles long, containing shiny black seeds in diameter.

Taxonomy

Pink-flowered doughwood 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 elleryana'' 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

Anthelme Thozet Anthelme Thozet (25 May 1826 – 31 May 1878) was a French-Australian botanist and ethnographer. Early life He was born 25 May 1826 in Cheignieu-la-Balme, Chegnieu-la-Balme (Register of Contrevoz), and fled Calais for London (giving his profess ...

near Beddome Creek (near

Rockhampton Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. In the , the population of Rockhampton was 79,293. A common nickname for Rockhampton is "Rocky", and the demonym of Rockhampton is Rockhamptonite. The Scottish- ...

). In 1990,

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 elleryana'' in the journal '' Telopea''. 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 ...

(''elleryana'') honours the Victorian government astronomer,

Robert L. J. Ellery Robert Lewis John Ellery (14 July 1827 – 14 January 1908) was an English-Australian astronomer and public servant who served as Victoria (state), Victorian government astronomer for 42 years. Early life Ellery was born in Cranleigh, Surrey, E ...

Habitat and distribution

''Melicope elleryana'' grows in coastal and inland forest, woodland and rainforest from sea level to an altitude of . It occurs from the

Maluku Islands The Maluku Islands ( ; , ) or the Moluccas ( ; ) are an archipelago in the eastern part of Indonesia. Tectonics, Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located in West ...

east to the Solomon Islands and south to New Guinea and northern Australia. In Australia it is found in the far north-east of Western Australia, the

Top End The Top End of Australia's Northern Territory is a geographical region encompassing the northernmost section of the Northern Territory, which aside from the Cape York Peninsula is the northernmost part of the Australian continent. It covers a ...

of the Northern Territory, northern and eastern Queensland and south to the Clarence River in northern New South Wales.

Ecology

This tree is the favoured food plant for the Ulysses butterfly, '' Papilio ulysses''. Germination is unpredictable, starting within 30 days or possibly taking several years. Soaking the seeds for several days appears to remove some of the germination inhibitors.

Uses

This species is often cultivated as an ornamental tree. In New Guinea it is said to be used to flavour

palm wine Palm wine, known by several #Names, local names, is an alcoholic beverage created from the sap of various species of palm trees such as the Borassus, palmyra, date palms, and coconut palms. It is known by various names in different regions and ...

and an exudate from the bark is used as an adhesive, for caulking canoes and as a wound treatment.

References

External links

*
View a map
of historical sightings 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 ...

View images
of this species on Flickriver {{Taxonbar, from1=Q3017521 elleryana Sapindales of Australia Flora of New South Wales Flora of Queensland Flora of Papua New Guinea Flora of Western Australia Flora of the Solomon Islands (archipelago) Flora of the Maluku Islands Plants described in 1865 Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller