Coatesia paniculata

Location & distribution maps

Common name:         . . .

Conservation status: Varies

• This tree is listed as of "least concern" under the Queensland Government Nature Conservation Act 1992 but as "endangered" under the NSW Government Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016

• The species is only known from a few locations near Tweed Heads, Lismore and Wardell in New South Wales and is threatened by land clearing, weed invasion and grazing by domestic livestock

Etymology:   

Flowers:                  

• The flowers are arranged on the ends of branchlets or in upper leaf axils, in panicles 15–90 mm long

• The five sepals are about 1 mm long and fused at the base, the five white petals 2.5–3 mm long

• There are five stamens that are opposite to and shorter than the petals

• Flowering occurs from April to May 

Fruit:                         

• Oval, beaked and 8–9 mm long with one glossy black seed in each of the two or three follicles

Leaves:         

• It has simple leaves that are elliptical to egg-shaped, 40–100 mm (1.6–3.9 in) long and 15–45 mm (0.59–1.77 in) wide on a petiole 9–14 mm (0.35–0.55 in) long and grooved on the upper side. The leaves are glabrous, the upper surface glossy dark green and the lower surface paler, and are strongly fragrant when crushed. 

Stem & branches: 

Roots:         

Habit:        

• A tree that typically grows to a height of 3–12 m 

Habitat:   

• Rainforest, often dry rainforest

Distribution:                  

• From Mount Abbot near Bowen in central-eastern Queensland and south to north-eastern NSW

Species:                     

• World:           1

• Australia:     1

Additional notes:     

• Taxonomy

  • The genus Coatesia and the species Coatesia paniculata were first formally described in 1862 by Ferdinand von Mueller in his book Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae

  • As of September 2021, Plants of the World Online treated the genus as a synonym of Geijera, but it is accepted in a 2021 classification of the family Rutaceae, and placed in the subfamily Zanthoxyloideae

Sources of information:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coatesia (July 2024)