Bosistoa

Location & distribution maps

Plant  information

Common name:                . . .

Conservation status:  . . .

Etymology:   

• The generic name Bosistoa honours the name of Joseph Bosisto, a manufacturer of essential oils

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Flowers:                  

• The flowers are bisexual

• Usually with five sepals fused at the base, sometimes almost for their full length

• Five white petals

• There are ten stamens that alternate in length

Fruit:                         

• The fruit is a single or pair of follicles joined at the base with a woody exocarp

• Each follicle contains a single smooth brown seed

Leaves:         

• Simple or compound leaves arranged in opposite pairs and lack domatia

Stem & branches: 

Roots:         

Habit:        

• Tree

Habitat:   

• Rainforest, often dry rainforest and occur in near-coastal areas 

Distribution:                  

• Between tropical north Queensland and northern NSW

Species:                     

• World:            4

• Australia:      4

Additional notes:     

• Bosistoa is a genus of four species of tree in the family Rutaceae endemic to eastern Australia. 

• Taxonomy

  • The genus Bosistoa was first formally described in 1863 by George Bentham from an unpublished description by Ferdinand von Mueller 

  • The description was published in Flora Australiensis

  • In 1977, Thomas Hartley described seven species of Bosistoa and five varieties

  • From a study of specimens collected since then, the number of accepted species has been reduced and the varieties dispensed with

  • The species described by Hartley but no longer accepted by the Australian Plant Census are B. brassii, B. monostylis and B. selwynii

  • Bosistoa brassii is an accepted name in Queensland with B. brassii var. proserpinensis regarded as a synonym of B. medicinalis

• Species list

  • Bosistoa floydii - five-leaf bosistoa, five-leaved bonewood (N.S.W.)

  • Bosistoa medicinalis - northern towra, Eumundi bosistoa (Qld.)

  • Bosistoa pentacocca - ferny-leaf bosistoa, native almond, union nut (Qld., N.S.W.)

    • Bosistoa pentacocca subsp. connaricarpa 

    • Bosistoa pentacocca Baill. subsp. pentacocca

  • Bosistoa transversa 

Sources of information:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosistoa (Jan 2024)