Austrobaileya

This article is about the Australian endemic plant. For the journal, see Austrobaileya (journal).

Austrobaileya
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Order: Austrobaileyales
Family: Austrobaileyaceae
Croizat[3][4]
Genus: Austrobaileya
C.T.White
Species:
A. scandens
Binomial name
Austrobaileya scandens
C.T.White[2]
Synonyms[5]

Austrobaileya maculata C.T.White

Austrobaileya is the sole genus consisting of a single species that constitutes the entire flowering plant family Austrobaileyaceae.[4][2][5][6][7][8] The species Austrobaileya scandens grows naturally only in the Wet Tropics rainforests of northeastern Queensland, Australia.[2][5][8][9][10]

The name A. maculata is recognised as a synonym of A. scandens.[2][5]

Austrobaileya plants grow as woody lianas or vines. Their main growing stems loosely twine, with straight, extending, leafy branches. The leaves are leathery, veined and simple. The leaves produce essential oils in spherical ethereal oil cells. Their foliage is damaged by oxidation in direct sunlight, so it tends to grow beneath the rainforest canopy, in low-sunlight and very humid conditions.[11] Like many other flowering plants growing in the understory of tropical rainforest, it does not have palisade mesophyll tissue or low leaf photosynthetic rates. It relies strongly on vegetative reproduction for continuation of the species.[citation needed]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference DESQLD was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference APNI was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference APGIII was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference AngiospermPhylogenyWebsite was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference AustrobaileyaJournalProfile was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Mabberley was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference RFK8 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference FloraAustraliaAustrobaileya was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference FloraAustraliaA.scandens was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference RFK8a was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Raven, Peter H. (2013). Biology of Plants. New York, NY: W.H. Freeman and Company Publishers. p. 480. ISBN 9781429219617.