448 
Notes : Polyscias bellendenkerensis is 
distinguished by the mostly bipinnate foliage, 
the flowers borne in umbels, and the styles 
remaining erect in fruit. 
3. Polyscias elegans (C.Moore & F.Muell.) 
Harms, Natur. Pflanzen. Ill, 8 (111): 45 (1894); 
Panax elegans C.Moore & F.Muell., Trans. 
Philos. Inst. Victoria 2: 68 (1857); Nothopanax 
elegans (C.Moore & F.Muell.) Seem., FI. Vit. 
[Seemann] 3: 114 (1866); Tieghemopanax 
elegans (C.Moore & F.Muell.) R.Vig., Bull. 
Soc. Bot. France 52: 308 (1905); Gelibia 
elegans (C.Moore & F.Muell.) Hutch., Gen. FI. 
PI. 2: 58 (1967). Type: Queensland. Moreton 
Bay, [December 1856], W. Hill & F. Mueller 
(lecto: MEL 672695 [here designated]). 
Panax polybotryus F.Muell., Hooker’s J. 
Bot. Kew Gard. Misc. 9: 229 (1857). Type: 
Queensland. Moreton Bay, [in 1856] F. 
Mueller s.n. (syn: BM 000810430). 
Polyscias branderhorstii Harms, Nova 
Guinea 8: 274 (1909); Gelibia branderhorstii 
(Harms) Hutch., Gen. FI. PI. 2: 58 (1967). 
Type: New Guinea. South coast at Dorf 
Gelieb, 3 November 1907, B. Branderhorst 
208 (syn: K 000792854 & K 000792853). 
Illustrations : Cooper & Cooper (2004: 65); 
Hyland et al. (2010); Nicholson & Nicholson 
(2007a: 52). 
Additional selected specimens examined: Queensland. 
Cook District: Thursday Island, Jul 1975, Stocker 
1295 (BRI); The Big Scrub, 2-4 km NE of Mt Surprise 
turnoff, Mt Garnet - Charters Towers Road, May 1976, 
Rodd 3200 (BRI, NSW). South Kennedy District: 
Carlisle Island, c. 1 km W of Turtle Bay and c. 35 km 
N of Mackay, Sep 1986, Sharpe 4442 & Batianoff 
(BRI). Port Curtis District: Stevens Road, S of Pine 
Mountain, Shoalwater Bay Training Area, Apr 2011, 
Bean 30856 & Halford (BM, BRI, MO). Burnett 
District: Mt Wooroolin, 4 km WNW of Kingaroy, Apr 
1991, Telford 11036 & Rw^(BISH, BRI, CANB, NSW). 
Wide Bay District: Gheerulla Creek, above the falls, 
W of Mapleton, Apr 1998, Bean 13199 (BRI). Moreton 
District: Ithaca Creek, Apr 1876, Bailey s.n. (BRI 
[AQ215503]). 
Distribution and habitat : Polyscias elegans 
occurs along the Queensland coast, and 
extends up to 250 km inland where suitable 
sheltered habitats exist. It is also found on the 
Torres Strait islands, and in southern New 
Guinea (Map 3). It also occurs in coastal 
Austrobaileya 9(3): 445-456 (2015) 
New South Wales, as far south as Jervis Bay 
(Floyd 1989). It grows in all types of notophyll 
rainforest, including those of the littoral zone. 
Notes : Panax polybotryus was omitted from 
Govaerts et al. (2014), and is treated as a 
name of uncertain application in APC (2015). 
In the protologue for P. polybotryus , Mueller 
stated that it has a “racemose, not umbellate 
inflorescence”. Polyscias elegans is the only 
Australian Polyscias species that does not 
have an umbellate inflorescence, a clear 
indication that the two names are synonymous. 
This has been confirmed by examination of 
an image of a type of P. polybotryus held at 
BM. It comprises detached leaflets and a short 
portion of an infructescence. Both the leaflets 
and the infructescence are consistent with the 
species known as Polyscias elegans. 
Harms (1909) distinguished Polyscias 
branderhorstii from P. elegans by the 
very short pedicels of the fruits and the 
much “weaker” (sparser?) hairs on the 
inflorescence. However, these differences are 
not significant; pedicel length is variable in P. 
elegans throughout its range, as is the density 
of the inflorescence indumentum. 
Nomenclature: Panax polybotryus was 
published in the 9 th volume of Hooker’s 
Journal of Botany and Kew Miscellany , and 
p. 229 was published during August 1857 
(Stafleu & Cowan 1979). Panax elegans 
was published in the 2 nd volume of the 
Transactions of the Philosophical Institute 
of Victoria, on 30 September 1857 (Chapman 
1991); hence in the genus Panax , the epithet 
polybotryus has nomenclatural priority over 
elegans. However, Panax polybotryus cannot 
be transferred to Polyscias , as the combination 
Polyscias polybotrya is preoccupied for 
another taxon ( Polyscias polybotrya Harms, 
Notizbl. Konigl. Bot. Gart. Berlin 3: 20 
(1902)). Therefore Polyscias elegans is the 
correct name for this species. 
4. Polyscias macgillivrayi (Seem.) Harms, 
Natur. Pflanzen. Ill, 8 (111): 45 (1894); 
Nothopanax macgillivrayi Seem., FI. Vit. 
[Seemann] 3: 114 (1866); Panax macgillivrayi 
(Seem.) Benth., FI. Austral. 3: 382 (1867); 
Tieghemopanax macgillivrayi (Seem.) R.Vig., 
