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Possible new Australian Dischidia species


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Earlier today I went to visit a good friend of mine who grows many different types of plants including ant plants. I showed him a list of Dischidias I am growing and he asked  if I could identify a plant that a friend had recently collected on Cape York Peninsular. As soon as I saw the plant I knew it was either a new species  or a distribution extension of an already known species not previously recorded from Australia. This plant looks very much like Dischidia albida from pictures I have seen , as soon as  Ashley  Field gets back from his field trip I will send him a picture of this plant. My good friend gave me the cutting I used for the following picture, he will now try to get a more specific collection site.

 

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Cutting of the unknown Cape York Dischidia.

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Aurelian and Jeff

 

Thanks for your comments, if this plant does turns out to be D. bengalensis it will still be a new record for Australia. At this time there are only four Dischidia species recognised as occuring in Australia, they are D.nummularia, D. major, D.ovata and D.litoralis. In the case of D.litoralis it does not even occur on the mainland of Queensland but on its islands of the Torres Strait as well as in New Guinea. The Australian National Herbarium has two samples of D.bengalensis both collected around the area of Jayapura in West Papua, so it is possible that it could also occur on the top of Cape York Peninsular. The person who collected this plant and initially grew it  said that it is cold sensitive in southern Queensland in the winter, and should be grown under cover at this time.

 

Cheers

Robert

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  • 1 month later...

This is very likely D. bengalensis but could also be D. litoralis.  They are almost indistinguishable even when in bloom.  A microscope is needed.  In my experience, the confirmed clone of D. litoralis I grow has a fragrance and typically produces umbels numbering up to 10 flowers whereas D. bengalensis typically produces only two or three at once.

 

Edit:  Just wanted to add a bit about D. ablida.  It is almost completely restricted to peninsular Malaysia where it grows as a montane and semi montane plant often in conjunction with D. astephana, even growing entwined in the plant.  The foliage is very dainty and ovate, produces small urceolate flowers that are typically white with pink corolla lobes but some clones are all white.

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  • 11 months later...

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