Commersonia

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Commersonia
C. bartramia
C. bartramia
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Malvales
Family: Malvaceae (or Sterculiaceae)
Genus: Commersonia
J.R.Forst. & G.Forst.
Species

See text.

Commersonia is a genus of 14 species of small to medium-sized tree in the family Malvaceae. They are found primarily in Australia (12 spp.) with the remainder being spread across Southeast Asia and the western Pacific Islands.

The genus is named after Philibert Commerson (1727-73) a French naturalist who sailed with Bougainville on the expedition of 1766-69.

The most commonly grown species, C. bartramia is named after John Bartram and known as the brown kurrajong or Christmas kurrajong because it flowers at christmas. At 25 metres high with a girth of 50 centimetres it is a common garden plant in northern New South Wales and southeastern Queensland and grows on rainforest margins, often as regrowth after logging. Its foliage is very characteristically horizontally layered. Alex Floyd's book, Rainforest Trees of South-eastern Australia, notes its distribution is from the Bellinger River in northern NSW to Cape York and Malaysia. Floyd notes the fibrous bark was used by Australian aborigines to make nets for catching kangaroos and fish.

Most of the species in Commersonia have attractive heart-shaped leaves.

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