''Paratrophis pendulina'' is a 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 ...

in the mulberry family,

Moraceae Moraceae is a family of flowering plants comprising about 48 genera and over 1100 species, and is commonly known as the mulberry or fig family. Most are widespread in tropical and subtropical regions, less so in temperate climates; however, their ...

. In Australia it is commonly known as whalebone tree, and other common names include the white handlewood, axe-handle wood, grey handlewood and prickly fig. In Hawaii it is known as Hawai'i roughbush or ''aiai'' in Hawaiian. It is native to New South Wales and Queensland in eastern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, and to

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 ...

, the

Caroline Islands The Caroline Islands (or the Carolines) are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically, they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) in the cen ...

Mariana Islands The Mariana Islands ( ; ), also simply the Marianas, are a crescent-shaped archipelago comprising the summits of fifteen longitudinally oriented, mostly dormant volcanic mountains in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, between the 12th and 21st pa ...

Norfolk Island Norfolk Island ( , ; ) is an States and territories of Australia, external territory of Australia located in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia, directly east of Australia's Evans Head, New South Wales, Evans Head and a ...

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (; ), is an island country in Melanesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, east o ...

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

, the

Tubuai Islands The Austral Islands ( officially ''Archipel des Australes;'' ) are the southernmost group of islands in French Polynesia, an overseas country of the French Republic in the South Pacific. Geographically, they consist of two separate archipelagos ...

, and the

Hawaiian Islands The Hawaiian Islands () are an archipelago of eight major volcanic islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the Pacific Ocean, North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the Hawaii (island), island of Hawaii in the south to nort ...

. It is usually a small

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only ...

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

, reaching a height of with a trunk diameter of .''Streblus brunonianus''
NSW Flora Online. Retrieved 23 April 2024.

Description

The species can be a large shrub or small tree, rarely growing into a large tree tall and in trunk diameter. The trunk is mostly cylindrical or flanged. The bark is brown, featuring lines of vertical pustules.(other publication details, included in citation)
/ref> The leaves are thin with a long pointed tip. long, alternate and simple. Usually finely toothed. The underside of the leaf is hairy, the top is glossy and mid green in colour. Leaf venation is more evident on the undersurface. Unlike in other species, the lateral veins do not terminate in leaf serrations. Flowers appear from September to May. Male flowers appear on spikes, female flowers on small clusters or spikes. The fruit matures from January to May, being a yellow coloured berry, long. The seeds are round, pale in colour and 3 mm in diameter.

Habitat and ecology

In Australia it is found east of the

Great Dividing Range The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills. It runs roughl ...

, from near Milton (35° S) in the southern

Illawarra The Illawarra is a coastal Regions of New South Wales, region in the southeast of the Australian state of New South Wales. It is situated immediately south of Sydney and north of the South Coast, New South Wales, South Coast region. It encompas ...

district of New South Wales to

Cape York Peninsula The Cape York Peninsula is a peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth's last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupación Sierra Madre, ...

at Australia's northern tip. It commonly grows in a variety of different types of tropical, subtropical, and warm-temperate rainforest, particularly by streams. Germination from fresh seed occurs without difficulty within seven weeks. The fruit is eaten by birds including the brown cuckoo dove,

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 ...

Lewin's honeyeater Lewin's honeyeater (''Meliphaga lewinii'') is a bird that inhabits the ranges along the east coast of Australia. It has a semicircular ear-patch, pale yellow in colour. The name of this bird commemorates the Australian artist John Lewin. Another ...

rose crowned fruit dove The rose-crowned fruit dove (''Ptilinopus regina''), also known as pink-capped fruit dove or Swainson's fruit dove, is a medium-sized fruit dove that is found in parts of southern Indonesia, northern Australia and eastern Australia. Taxonomy Th ...

and

topknot pigeon The topknot pigeon (''Lopholaimus antarcticus'') is a pigeon native to eastern Australia. Taxonomy English naturalist George Shaw described the topknot pigeon as ''Columba antarctica'' in 1793. The topknot pigeon is sister taxon to a lineage t ...

. In Hawaii it inhabits dry, coastal mesic, mixed mesic and wet forests from sea level to elevation.

References

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q125572290, from2=Q7622752, from3=Q385151 Moraceae Trees of Australia Flora of the Caroline Islands Flora of Fiji Flora of Hawaii Flora of the Mariana Islands Flora of New Caledonia Trees of New Guinea Flora of New South Wales Flora of Norfolk Island Trees of the Pacific Flora of Queensland Flora of Vanuatu Rosales of Australia Plants described in 1833 Taxa named by Stephan Endlicher