{{Short description|Species of tree}} {{Speciesbox |name = Leopardwood |image = Flindersia maculosa habitii.jpg |image_caption = ''Flindersia maculosa'' |status_system = |genus = Flindersia |species = maculosa |authority = ([[Lindl]].) [[Benth.]]<ref name="APC">{{cite web |title=''Flindersia maculosa'' |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/87882|publisher=Australian Plant Census |accessdate= 17 July 2020}}</ref> |synonyms_ref = <ref name="APC" /> |synonyms = * ''Elaeodendron maculosum'' <small>[[Lindl.]]</small> * ''Flindersia maculata'' <small>F.Muell. [[Nomen illegitimum|nom. illeg.]]</small> }} [[File:Flindersia maculosa flowers.jpg|thumb|Flowers]] [[File:Flindersia maculosa fruit.jpg|thumb|Fruit]]
'''''Flindersia maculosa''''', commonly known as '''leopardwood''' or '''leopard tree''',<ref name="RBGS">{{cite web |last1=Porteners |first1=Marianne F. |title=''Flindersia maculosa'' |url=http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Flindersia~maculosa |publisher=Royal Botanic Garden Sydney |accessdate=17 July 2020}}</ref> is a species of tree in the family [[Rutaceae]] and is [[Endemism|endemic]] to inland areas of eastern Australia. It has mottled bark, simple leaves arranged in opposite pairs, white to cream-coloured flowers and fruit studded with rough points.
==Description== ''Flindersia maculosa'' is a tree that typically grows to a height of {{cvt|15|m}}, developing from a tangled mass of spiny branches in the juvenile stage. The trunk is mottled due to the bark shedding in patches. The leaves are simple, arranged in opposite pairs, narrow oblong to lance-shaped or linear, {{cvt|10–80|mm}} long and {{cvt|2.5–10|mm}} wide on a [[Petiole (botany)|petiole]] {{cvt|2–15|mm}} long. The upper surface of the leaf is shiny and dark green, the lower side dull and paler. The flowers are arranged in [[panicle]]s {{cvt|10–80|mm}} long on the ends of branchlets. The [[sepal]]s are {{cvt|1–1.5|mm}} long, the [[petal]]s white to cream-coloured and {{cvt|3–4|mm}} long. Flowering occurs from September to December and the fruit is a woody [[Capsule (botany)|capsule]] studded with rough points and that opens into five section, releasing winged seeds about {{cvt|18|mm}} long.<ref name="RBGS" /><ref name="FoA">{{cite book |last1=Hartley |first1=Thomas G. |editor-last=Wilson |editor-first=Annette J.G. |title=Flora of Australia (Volume 26) |date=2013 |publisher=Australian Biological Resources Study |location=Canberra |pages=70–71 |url=https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Flindersia%20maculosa |accessdate=17 July 2020}}</ref>
==Taxonomy== Leopardwood was first formally described in 1848 by [[John Lindley]] in [[Thomas Mitchell (explorer)|Thomas Mitchell's]] ''Journal of an Expedition into the Interior of Tropical Australia''.<ref name=APNI1>{{cite web|title=''Elaeodendron maculosum''|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/479747 |publisher=APNI|accessdate=17 July 2020}}</ref> In 1963, [[George Bentham]] changed the name to ''Flindersia maculosa'' in ''[[Flora Australiensis]]''.<ref name=APNI>{{cite web|title=''Flindersia maculosa''|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/508195 |publisher=APNI|accessdate=17 July 2020}}</ref><ref name="Benth.">{{cite book |last1=Bentham |first1=George |last2=von Mueller |first2=Ferdinand |title=Flora Australiensis (Volume 1) |date=1863 |volume=1 |publisher=Lovell Reeve & Co. |location=London |pages=389–390 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/3669#page/447/mode/1up |accessdate=17 July 2020}}</ref>
==Distribution and habitat== ''Flindersia maculosa'' grows on stony hills and sand plains from [[Hughenden, Queensland|Hughenden]] in central Queensland to the [[Riverina]] district in south-western New South Wales and from [[Walgett, New South Wales|Walgett]] to [[Ivanhoe, New South Wales|Ivanhoe]] and [[Broken Hill]] in that state.<ref name="RBGS" /><ref name="FoA" />
==Uses== Leopardwood is a useful fodder tree in drought periods but as the tree does not recuperate well, it should only be [[Pollarding|pollarded]].<ref name="ABS">{{cite web |title=Some native Australian fodder plants |date=25 January 1912 |url=https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/featurearticlesbyReleaseDate/4C690E6136B8B1EBCA2569DE00267E5F?OpenDocument |publisher=Australian Bureau of Statistics |accessdate=17 July 2020}}</ref> The wood of the tree is sometimes used to construct fence posts and [[Pickaxe#Pickaxe handle|pick handles]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/species-bank/sbank-treatment.pl?id=17842|title=''Flindersia maculosa'' (Family Rutaceae) |work=Species Bank |publisher=Department of the Environment and Water Resources, Commonwealth of Australia}}</ref>
Nectar from the buds and gum from the bark have been used to make a sweet drink.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/education/Resources/bush_foods/talking_about_plants | title=Bush foods: Talking about plants | access-date=2009-08-01 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090816200512/http://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/education/Resources/bush_foods/talking_about_plants | archive-date=2009-08-16 | url-status=dead }}</ref> The drink from the gum has been used as a remedy for diarrhea.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.bushfood.net/medicinals_full.htm | title=Native Australian Plants with Medicinal Uses | url-status=dead | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928135937/http://www.bushfood.net/medicinals_full.htm | archivedate=2007-09-28 }}</ref>
==Ecology== Larvae of the moth ''[[Opodiphthera astrophela]]'' feed on the leopardwood tree.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www-staff.it.uts.edu.au/~don/larvae/satu/astroph.html | title=Opodiphthera astrophela (Walker, 1855) | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20050718220436/http://www-staff.it.uts.edu.au/~don/larvae/satu/astroph.html | archivedate=2005-07-18}}</ref> An unidentified beetle in the genus ''[[Anilara]]'' can cause serious damage to the leopardwood tree.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.calodema.com/freefiles/319.pdf | title=Review of the biology of the genus Anilara Saunders, 1868 (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) | author=Trevor J. Hawkeswood | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708112239/http://www.calodema.com/freefiles/319.pdf | archivedate=2011-07-08}}</ref> The [[mistletoe]] ''[[Amyema lucasii]]'' grows almost exclusively on the ''F. maculosa''.<ref name="Quirico">{{cite web |last1=Quirico |first1=Anna-Louise |title=''Amyema lucasii'' |url=http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Amyema~lucasii |publisher=Royal Botanic Garden Sydney |accessdate=17 July 2020}}</ref>
==Conservation status== ''Flindersia maculosa'' is classified as of "least concern" under the Queensland Government ''[[Nature Conservation Act 1992]]''.<ref name="DES">{{cite web |title=Species profile—''Flindersia maculosa'' (leopardwood)|url=https://apps.des.qld.gov.au/species-search/details/?id=17123 |publisher=Queensland Government Department of Environment and Science |accessdate=17 July 2020}}</ref>
===Gallery=== <gallery> Image:Flindersia maculosa00.jpg|drawing by [[Margaret Flockton]] Image:Mutawintji4 - Eagle Nest.JPG|A [[wedge-tailed eagle]]'s nest in a fruiting leopardwood tree at [[Mutawintji National Park]] Image:Flindersia maculosa Mt Oxley.JPG|Bark </gallery>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q967939}}
[[Category:Flindersia|maculosa]] [[Category:Sapindales of Australia]] [[Category:Flora of New South Wales]] [[Category:Flora of Queensland]] [[Category:Trees of Australia]] [[Category:Plants described in 1848]] [[Category:Taxa named by John Lindley]]