Commersonia bartramia

{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}} {{Speciesbox | name = Brown kurrajong | genus = Commersonia | species = bartramia | image = Commerson bartram 070601-013 ipb.JPG | image_caption = ''Commersonia bartramia'' in West Java | authority = (L.) Merr.<ref name=APC>{{cite web|title=''Commersonia bartramia''|url= https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/74945|publisher=Australian Plant Census|access-date=10 December 2020}}</ref> | synonyms_ref = <ref name="APC" /> | synonyms = {{collapsible list | * ''Byttneria caledonica'' Turcz. * ''Commerconia echinata'' F.Muell. orth. var. * ''Commersonia echinata'' J.R.Forst. & G.Forst. nom. illeg., nom. superfl. * ''Commersonia echinata'' var. ''bancroftii'' F.M.Bailey * ''Commersonia echinata'' J.R.Forst. & G.Forst. var. ''echinata'' * ''Commersonia echinata var. javana'' Miq. ex Gagnep. * ''Commersonia echinata var. platyphylla'' (Andrews) Gagnep. * ''Commersonia javensis'' G.Don * ''Commersonia platyphylla'' Andrews * ''Commersonia platyphylla β lechenaultii'' DC. * ''Muntingia bartramia'' L. * ''Restiaria alba'' Rumph. * ''Restiaria echinata'' (J.R.Forst. & G.Forst.) Kuntze }} }}

'''''Commersonia bartramia''''', commonly known as '''brown kurrajong''',<ref name="RBGS">{{cite web |last1=Harden |first1=Gwen J. |title=''Commersonia bartramia'' |url=https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Commersonia~bartramia |publisher=Royal Botanic Garden Sydney |access-date=10 December 2020}}</ref> is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae and is native to Southeast Asia, the Northern Territory, Queensland and New South Wales. It is a tree or shrub with heart-shaped to egg-shaped leaves much paler on the lower surface, and sometimes with fine, irregular teeth on the edges.

==Description== ''Commersonia bartramia'' is a shrub or tree that typically grows to a height of up to {{cvt|25|m}}, the trunk up to {{cvt|50|cm}} in diameter and sometimes forming buttress roots. The leaves are heart-shaped to egg-shaped or broadly egg-shaped, {{cvt|50–140|mm}} long and {{cvt|10–20|mm}} wide on a densely hairy petiole {{cvt|10–30|mm}} long with stipules {{cvt|2–6|mm}} long at the base. The tip of the leaf tapers to a fine point, there are sometimes fine, irregular teeth on the lower surface, and the lower surface is much paler than the upper surface. The flowers are arranged in dense heads of 20 to 100 or more {{cvt|30–100|mm}} long, the groups on a peduncle {{cvt|5–25|mm}} long, each flower on pedicel {{cvt|2–7|mm}} long. The sepal are joined at the base with 5 white lobes {{cvt|1–3|mm}} long, and five white petals with ligules as long as the sepal lobes, and there is a single staminodes between each pair of stamens. Flowering occurs from October to March and the fruit is a hairy, dark capsule {{cvt|15–25|mm}} long.<ref name="RBGS" /><ref name="Blake">{{cite book |last1=Blake |first1=Trevor L. |title=Lantern bushes of Australia; Thomasias & allied genera : a field and horticultural guide |date=2021 |publisher=Australian Plants Society, Keilor Plains Group |location=Victoria |isbn=9780646839301 |pages=166–167}}</ref>

==Taxonomy== Brown kurrajong was first formally described in 1759 by Carl Linnaeus who gave it the name ''Muntingia bartramia'' in ''Amoenitates Academicae''.<ref name=APNI1>{{cite web|title=''Muntingia bartramia''|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/601996|publisher=APNI|accessdate=10 December 2020}}</ref><ref name="L.">{{cite book |last1=Linnaeus |first1=Carl |title=Amoenitates academicae |date=1759 |publisher=Apud Godofredum Kiesewetter |location=New York |page=124 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/15496#page/127/mode/1up |access-date=10 December 2020}}</ref> In 1917, Elmer Drew Merrill changed the name to ''Commersonia bartramia'' in his book, ''An Interpretation of Rumphius's Herbarium Amboinense''.<ref name=APNI>{{cite web|title=''Commersonia bartramia''|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/487753|publisher=APNI|accessdate=10 December 2020}}</ref><ref name="Merill">{{cite book |last1=Merrill |first1=Elmer Drew |title=An interpretation of Rumphius's Herbarium amboinense |date=1917 |publisher=Bureau of Printing |location=Manila |pages=362–363 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/151090#page/370/mode/1up |access-date=10 December 2020}}</ref>

The specific epithet (''bartramia'') honours the American botanist, John Bartram.<ref name="Blake" />

==Distribution and habitat== ''Commersonia bartramia'' grows in rainforest, and along creeks and gullies near the edges of rainforest. It is a common species in regrowth areas of rainforest and occurs from southern China to as far south as the Bellinger River in New South Wales.<ref name="Blake" /><ref name="POWO">{{cite web |title=''Commersonia bartramia'' |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:822821-1#distributions |publisher=Plants of the World Online |access-date=16 March 2023}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

bartramia Category:Flora of the Northern Territory Category:Flora of New South Wales Category:Flora of Queensland Category:Botanical taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Category:Plants described in 1917