Eidothea hardeniana
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| Eidothea hardeniana | ||||||||||||||||
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| Eidothea hardeniana Weston & Kooyman |
Eidothea hardeniana (Nightcap Oak) is a tree to 30m tall in the family Proteaceae discovered as a new species in 2000 by botanist Robert Kooyman.[1] The species is listed as Critically Endangered on the Australian Commonwealth EPBC Act and Endangered on the NSW Threatened Species Act.
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[edit] Distribution and habitat
Known from only a single creek catchment in Warm Temperate Rainforest in the Nightcap Range Northern NSW Australia. There are only around 100 wild plants known. At least one plant is in cultivation in the Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney.
[edit] Description
E. hardeniana trees have pale lichen covered bark typical of many species in the Warm Temperate Rainforests. Often a ring of coppice shoots surrounds the base of an adult tree, coppice and seedling leaves have spiny marginal teeth, while adult leaves have no teeth.
Flowers are cream in clusters and smell of aniseed.
Fruits are large and rounded with a yellow green skin and a hard nut inside. The walls of the nut are ribbed a feature unique to this genus in the family. The seed is has a white center and it probably contains poisonous cyanogenic compounds like some species of Macadamia. These toxins do not deter Rodents from eating through the hard nut and devouring the seeds, limiting the regeneration of this plant.
[edit] References
- ^ NSW Department of Environment and Conservation (2004). "Recovery Plan for the Nightcap Oak (Eidothea hardeniana)". Hurstville, New South Wales: Department of Environment and Conservation.
- Weston, PH & Kooyman, RM (2002). "Eidothea hardeniana- Botany and Ecology of the ‘Nightcap Oak'". Australian Plants 21: 339–342. [Australian Plants Society].
- Weston, PH & Kooyman, RM (2002). "Systematics of Eidothea (Proteaceae), with the description of a new species, E. hardeniana, from the Nightcap Range, north-eastern New South Wales.". Telopea 9: 821–832.
[edit] External links
- Botany and Ecology of the Nightcap Oak, Australian Plant Online
