Gossia bidwillii, known as the python tree is a rainforest myrtle of eastern Australia.[1][2][3] The usual habitat is the drier rainforest areas. The range of natural distribution is from the Hunter River (32° S) in New South Wales to Coen (13° S) in far northern Queensland.[4]
| Python tree | |
|---|---|
| |
| Gossia bidwillii flower and foliage | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Myrtales |
| Family: | Myrtaceae |
| Genus: | Gossia |
| Species: | G. bidwillii
|
| Binomial name | |
| Gossia bidwillii | |
| Synonyms | |
Other common names include lignum-vitae, scrub ironwood and smooth-barked ironwood.
Taxonomy
editThe species was first described in 1867 by George Bentham as Myrtus bidwillii,[5][6] but in 2003 was transferred to the genus, Gossia, by Neil Snow, Gordon Guymer and Sawvel.[5][7]
Description
editA medium-sized tree, usually around 18 to 25 metres tall and up to 20 cm in trunk diameter. The trunk is crooked and not cylindrical, the bark being smooth and orange/brown in colour with attractive green blotchy markings. Hence the common name of Python Tree. The bark sheds in thin papery flakes.
Branchlets are smooth and brown. The leaves are opposite, simple and not toothed, being 5 to 8 cm long. Elliptic to ovate in shape with a leaf stem 3 to 6 mm long. Oil dots prominent when viewed with a lens, the leaf has a faint eucalyptus smell. Leaf venation evident, with a raised midrib on both sides, and an intramarginal vein around the leaf edge.
White, scented flowers form between October and December.[8] The fruit is a black berry. Flattened and warty, 6 mm in diameter. Inside are 3 to 5 attractive mauve coloured seeds. Fruit matures from January to May, eaten by various birds including the Rose crowned fruit dove.
References
edit- ^ "Species profile - Gossia bidwilli". WildNet Database. Queensland. Dept. of Environment and Science. 8 March 2022. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
- ^ "Gossia bidwillii (Benth.) N.Snow & Guymer". Australian tropical rainforest plants. CSIRO. Lucid Central. 2020. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
- ^ Atlas of Living Australia (6 August 2022). "Species: Gossia bidwillii (Lignum)". bie.ala.org.au. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
- ^ "Gossia bidwillii (Benth.) N. Snow & Guymer". PlantNET - FloraOnline. National Herbarium of New South Wales. 6 August 2022. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
- ^ a b "Gossia bidwillii". Australian Plant Name Index, IBIS database. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government. Retrieved 5 December 2024.
- ^ Bentham, G. (5 January 1867), Orders XLVIII. Myrtaceae- LXII. Compositae. Flora Australiensis 3: 275-276
- ^ Neil Snow; Gordon P. Guymer; G. Sawvel (2003). "Systematics of Austromyrtus, Lenwebbia, and the Australian Species of Gossia (Myrtaceae)". Systematic Botany Monographs. 65: 1-95 39-44, Figs. 10, 11. doi:10.2307/25027907. ISSN 0737-8211. JSTOR 25027907. Wikidata Q55767955.
- ^ "Gossia bidwillii (MYRTACEAE); Python tree, ironwood". Brisbane rainforest plants. Brisbane Rainforest Action and Information network. 6 August 2022. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
- Floyd, A. G. (1989). Rainforest Trees of Mainland South-eastern Australia (1st ed.). Port Melbourne: Elsevier Australia - Inkata Imprint, copyright Forestry Commission of New South Wales (published 1 December 1989). p. 245. ISBN 0-909605-57-2. Retrieved 7 June 2009. (other publication details, included in citation)