''Ostrearia'' is a monotypic genus - i.e. a genus containing only one species - of plants in the witch-hazel family

Hamamelidaceae Hamamelidaceae, commonly referred to as the witch-hazel family, is a family of flowering plants in the order Saxifragales. The clade consists of shrubs and small trees positioned within the woody clade of the core Saxifragales. An earlier system ...

. It is the first described of three monotypic Australian genera in this family, the others being ''

Neostrearia ''Neostrearia'' is a monotypic genus - i.e. a genus containing only one species - of plants in the witch-hazel family Hamamelidaceae. It is the second described of three monotypic Australian genera in this family, the others being '' Ostrearia' ...

'' and '' Noahdendron''. It is most closely related to these genera, as well as ''

Trichocladus ''Trichocladus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Hamamelidaceae, consisting of shrubs or small trees. The distinguishing features of the genus ''Trichocladus'' are as follows: *Branches and leaves are often covered in dense, velvet-l ...

'' (4 species) from southern Africa and '' Dicoryphe'' (13 species) from Madagascar, and together these five genera form a distinct clade within Hamamelidaceae. The sole species in this genus is ''Ostrearia australiana'', which was described in 1873 and is endemic to the rainforests of northeastern

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

''Ostrearia australiana'' is a tree up to tall and a trunk diameter of up to . The leaves are

simple Simple or SIMPLE may refer to: *Simplicity, the state or quality of being simple Arts and entertainment * ''Simple'' (album), by Andy Yorke, 2008, and its title track * "Simple" (Florida Georgia Line song), 2018 * "Simple", a song by John ...

and

alternate Alternative or alternate may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Alternative (''Kamen Rider''), a character in the Japanese TV series ''Kamen Rider Ryuki'' * Alternative comics, or independent comics are an alternative to mainstream superh ...

, measuring up to long by wide, and carried 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 ...

about long. They are

elliptic In mathematics, an ellipse is a plane curve surrounding two focal points, such that for all points on the curve, the sum of the two distances to the focal points is a constant. It generalizes a circle, which is the special type of ellipse in ...

in shape, with about eight pairs of lateral veins forming loops inside the blade margin. The

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

is a

spike Spike, spikes, or spiking may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Books * ''The Spike'' (novel), a novel by Arnaud de Borchgrave * ''The Spike'' (Broderick book), a nonfiction book by Damien Broderick * ''The Spike'', a starship in Peter ...

about long produced at the ends of the branches, with flowers densely packed. Petals are pale green and about long and wide. The fruit is a brown, woody, one- or two-lobed capsule measuring about long by wide. Each lobe contains a single seed about long.

Taxonomy

This species was named in 1873 by the French botanist

Henri Ernest Baillon Henri Ernest Baillon (; 30 November 1827 in Calais – 19 July 1895 in Paris) was a French botanist and physician. Baillon spent his academic career teaching natural history and publishing numerous works on botany. He was appointed to the Lé ...

, using material supplied to him by the

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

botanist

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 ...

, however Baillon could only provide an incomplete description as there was no flowering material in the specimens. He published the description in his work ''Adansonia; recueil d'observations botaniques'' under the section titled ''Nouvelles notes sur les Hamamélidées'' (New notes on the Hamamelidaceae).

Etymology

The genus name ''Ostrearia'' is from the Latin word ''

ostrea ''Ostrea'' is a genus of edible oysters, marine bivalve mollusks in the family Ostreidae, the oysters. Fossil records Although molecular studies suggest that ''Ostrea'' first appeared around the Eocene and originated no earlier than the Cre ...

'' for oyster, referring to the capsule's similarity in appearance to an oyster. The

species epithet Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany) ...

''australiana'' refers to Australia.

Distribution and habitat

''Ostrearia australiana'' has the broadest distribution of the three Australian species in Hamamelidaceae, but it is still restricted to a small part of northeastern Queensland. The natural range extends from near Rossville in the north to Tully in the south, including the coastal lowlands, ranges and 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 ...

. It inhabits rainforest, occurring close to permanent water courses, at altitudes from sea level to about .

Conservation

This species is listed by the Queensland Government's Department of Environment, Science and Innovation as

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 ...

. , it has not been assessed 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).

Gallery

File:Ostrearia australiana ALA4.jpg, Leaves File:Ostrearia australiana ALA2.jpg, Flowers File:Ostrearia australiana ALA1.jpg, Mature fruit File:Ostrearia australiana herbspec2.jpg, Herbarium specimen with fruit

References

External links

View a map
of herbarium collections 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 ...

See images
of this species on Flickriver {{Taxonbar, from1=Q20907961, from2=Q10342323 Hamamelidaceae genera Monotypic Saxifragales genera Flora of Queensland Endemic flora of Australia Plants described in 1873 Taxa named by Henri Ernest Baillon Hamamelidaceae