Thelema Posted May 12, 2003 ive been meaning to post this for at least 2 years now, ive never seen any mention of this tree. anyone have a source for it or tried it? PLEASE? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rev Posted May 14, 2003 Benjamin Thomas mentioned it in his talk at EB2001. I read its in Far North Qld as well but ID is going to be hard - from the ground - hopefully it will turn up as an accession elsewhere Ill volunteer for Bioassay Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fractalhead Posted May 25, 2003 I tracked this tree down a few years ago. While prowling the web for references to it, i found some details of a botanical survey of a certain property in the Atherton Tablelands out of Cairns. My wife and I teamed up with Gem and drove out to the place and asked the owners if they could point us in the direction of this species on their property. They were very helpful and even gave us a map with X marking a few spots. After a while of scanning the bush we eventually found a huge specimen about 15-20m tall. The trunk was about a metre in diametre and there were no branches anywhere near the ground for climbing so a positive ID was obtained by finding flowers on the ground. The flowers are unique and quite characteristic. I collected a small chunk of bark, several flowers and some old leaves that looked like they were covered on the underside with light-brown peltate scales. unfortunately, no fruit were found. Fruiting season is july-november (from memory), so i'm hoping to get some fruit this july. I thought about grabbing enough bark for a bioassay, but didn't want to endanger the health of this specimen. Rev is right. They are hard to spot in bush since the branches are usually high up in the canopy out of sight, the trees usually occur only at a rate of one every square kilometre or so (at least in North Queensland - in PNG they occur in much denser populations) when they do occur, and they occur in quite unfriendly forest. I got covered in ticks looking for more specimens but could only find a stinging tree (which stung the crap out of my arm). I am busting to get my (and the communities) hands on this species but have very limited time and resources to go and organise a tree climber or rifle-owner to bring down some propagation material. Will hopefully be doing it this july however if all goes to plan... you up for it rev? Good to see the interest is there. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Thelema Posted May 27, 2003 i reckon everyone who's interested should chuck in some money to fund the trip for you guys. I'd be willing to start the donations... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tripitaka Posted May 28, 2003 A very good friend of mine is a professional tree climber who works for Active Australia, He would certainly interested in this type of expedition. Has his own gear and we were planning a trip up that way so......email me should you be interested!!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
