''Terminalia arenicola'', commonly known as beach almond or brown damson, is a tree in the family

Combretaceae The Combretaceae, often called the white mangrove family, are a family 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, G ...

which is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

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 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 ...

Description

''Terminalia arenicola'' is a small to medium-sized tree growing up to around high, the trunk is grey and tessellated, branches are often

sympodial In botany, sympodial growth is a bifurcating branching pattern where one branch develops more strongly than the other, resulting in the stronger branches forming the primary shoot and the weaker branches appearing laterally. A sympodium, als ...

. The leaves are obovate, discolorous, spirally arranged and clustered towards the ends of the branches. They may be up to long and wide. Domatia are usually present, as well as glands on the leaf underside near the junction with the petiole. The inflorescence is an axillary spike or raceme, which carries numerous pentamerous white or cream flowers measuring about diameter. The flowers near the base of the spike 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 ...

whilst those near the apex are

male Male (Planet symbols, symbol: ♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete (sex cell) known as sperm, which fuses with the larger female gamete, or Egg cell, ovum, in the process of fertilisation. A male organism cannot sexual repro ...

. The fruit is a

drupe In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is a type of fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pip'' (UK), ''pit'' (US), ''stone'', or ''pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed ...

, at maturity measuring up to long, wide and high, with a short "beak" at the distal end. They are initially glaucous blue/green, becoming dark purple or red at maturity. This species is very similar to ''

Terminalia catappa ''Terminalia catappa'' is a large Tropics, tropical tree in the leadwood tree family, Combretaceae, native to Asia, Australia, the Pacific, Madagascar and Seychelles. Common names in English include country almond, Indian almond, Malabar almond, ...

'', but is generally smaller in almost all respects.

Phenology

The brown damson is

semi-deciduous Semi-deciduous or semi-evergreen is a botanical term which refers to plants that lose their foliage for a very short period, when old leaves fall off and new foliage growth is starting. This phenomenon occurs in tropical and sub-tropical wood ...

and may be bare for a brief period in the spring (Sep-Oct). Flowering occurs from September to May and the fruit may ripen at any time of the year.

Taxonomy

This species was first described in 1977 by the Australian botanist Norman Brice Byrnes, and his nominated type was a specimen he collected near

Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...

in 1971. His paper describing the new species, ''A Revision of Combretaceae in Australia'', was published in the journal '' Contributions from the Queensland Herbarium''. Prior to the publication of this new taxon, records of this species had been included with ''T. melanocarpa''.

Etymology

The species epithet ''arenicola'' is from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

''harēna'', "sand", and ''-cola'', "inhabitant", which refers to the beach habitat that is favoured by this tree.

Distribution and habitat

The brown damson is found in coastal forests in close proximity to beaches, often co-occurring with ''T. catappa'' and ''T. muelleri''. The longitudinal range is stated in

Flora of Australia The flora of Australia comprises a vast assemblage of plant species estimated to over 21,000 vascular and 14,000 non-vascular plants, 250,000 species of fungi and over 3,000 lichens. The flora has strong affinities with the flora of Gondwana, ...

as being from 16°S (i.e. in the vicinity of the Bloomfield River) to 20°S (near Bowen), while Byrnes' paper defines the range as being from 22°S (near Airlie Beach) northwards, with no northern limit declared.

Ecology

The fruit are eaten by cassowaries.

Conservation

This species is listed by the Queensland Department of Environment and Science 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

IUCN 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 status ...

Cultivation

This species, along with ''T.catappa'', has been widely planted in coastal cities of northeast Queensland, on beaches and in streets and parks, as it provides good shade and beautification of these areas.

Gallery

File:Terminalia arenicola 1.jpg , Fruit and foliage File:Terminalia arenicola 46483151.jpg , Trunk File:Terminalia-arenicola-SF23013-02.jpg , Flowers File:Terminalia-arenicola-SF23031-01.jpg, Fruit

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 , from=Q17583100 arenicola Endemic flora of Queensland Taxa named by Norman Brice Byrnes Plants described in 1977