Alloxylon flammeum

Alloxylon flammeum

Alloxylon flammeum is a medium-sized tree of the family Proteaceae found in the Queensland tropical rain forests of northeastern Australia. It has shiny green elliptical leaves up to 18 cm long, and prominent orange-red inflorescences that appear from August to October. Flowers are followed by rectangular woody seed pods that ripen in February and March.

About Alloxylon flammeum in brief

Summary Alloxylon flammeumAlloxylon flammeum is a medium-sized tree of the family Proteaceae found in the Queensland tropical rain forests of northeastern Australia. It has shiny green elliptical leaves up to 18 cm long, and prominent orange-red inflorescences that appear from August to October. Flowers are followed by rectangular woody seed pods that ripen in February and March. It is listed nationally as vulnerable under the Australian Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 as most of its habitat has been cleared for agriculture and logging. In nature, this is a rainforest tree that can reach 33 m in height with a diameter at breast height of 0. 6 m, although in cultivation 10 m is more likely. It can be distinguished from the co-occurring Alloxylon wickhamii by its hairy and brighter flowers. The New Guinean species A.flammeum resembles A. flammes but has duller leaves that are shorter and fewer hairs on its perianth.

It also has crimson pollen rather than the yellow of A. flammes. It was mistakenly known as Embothrium wickamii—Queensland botist Frederick Bailey had it illustrated using botanist Frederick Manson Manson’s illustrations using it as a model. The tree is a canopy or emergent tree in the Mabi rainforest community of north Queensland. Its terminal tubular flowers indicate that the species is pollinated by birds. The trunk has light grey bark with brown lenticels. New branchlets and leaves are hairy. The seedlings have obovate cotyledons that are 0. 8–1 cm wide by 1 cm long. The seeds are separated from the others by a membranous separator, and has a long rectangular wing, which is much longer than the seed itself. Each pod contains 8 to 10 seeds, and is ripe in January and February. The flowers sit atop stalks up to 3.5 cm in length, which arise in pairs off main horizontal stalks within the inflorescence.