Eupomatia

Eupomatia laurina, illustration.

Eupomatia is a genus of magnolia -like, which forms its own family of Eupomatiaceae.

Features

The species are aromatic scented shrubs with simple, rather thick, alternate standing in two rows of leaves.

The flowers appear singly in leaf axils. As buds they are of a conical cap ( calyptra ) covered, which drops as a whole in flower opening. Otherwise, no perianth is present. The stamens are numerous and are spirally. They are thick, fleshy and petal -style with side-mounted upright pollen sacs. The numerous free ( apokarpen ) carpels are sunk into the base of the flower. The placentation of the ovules is sublaminar. Per carpel there are two to eleven ovules. The scar is flat and papillose. The multiple fruits are fleshy and berry-like.

Dissemination

The genus occurs only in eastern Australia and eastern Papua New Guinea and grows in edges of rainforests or wet sclerophyll forests.

System

The Eupomatiaceae are within the magnolia -like the sister group of the Annonaceae. The only genus Eupomatia consists of three types:

• Eupomatia barbata Jessup
• Eupomatia bennettii F.Muell.
• Eupomatia laurina R.Br.

Sources and further information

• Flora of Australia online
• Eupomatiaceae on the APWebsite