Halford & Ford, Coelospermiim purpureum 
swollen distally. Calyx tube (including 
hypanthium) green, 3.5-4.2 mm long, 17-2.5 
mm across, truncate-urceolate, glabrous, 
with scattered colleters on rim; calyx teeth 
irregular, triangular, 0.1-0.2 mm long. Corolla 
valvate, clavate in bud, deciduous, white at 
anthesis becoming cream or yellowish-white 
with age, glabrous on abaxial surface; tube 8- 
13 mm long, ± cylindrical, slightly widened at 
the mouth and constricted at base, fenestrated 
by short longitudinal splits in lower third 
of tube, glabrous and papillose on adaxial 
surface in proximal half but hairy and smooth 
distally; hairs simple, c. 0.5 mm long, white, 
spreading; lobes spreading and recurved 
distally at anthesis, narrow-lanceolate or 
very narrow-elliptic, 9.5-13 mm long, 2-2.5 
mm wide, glabrous, acute and ± cucullate 
at apex. Stamens always exserted; staminal 
filaments 2.5-3.1 mm long in long-styled 
flowers, 5-6 mm long in short-styled flowers, 
inserted at the sinuses of the corolla lobes; 
anthers dorsifixed, versatile, linear, 5.8-6.8 
mm long, glabrous, with a short mucro at the 
tip, dehiscing laterally through longitudinal 
slits. Disc annular, entire, c. 0.5 mm high, 
glabrous. Ovary 2-celled, biovulate; ovules c. 
0.7 mm long. Long styled flowers with style 
exserted, 9.7-16 mm long, glabrous; stigma 
bifid, with spreading lobes 4.5-7 mm long, 
adaxial surface and margin wrinkled, abaxial 
surface glabrous. Short styled flowers with 
style inserted, 6.6-6.9 mm long, glabrous; 
stigma bifid, with erect lobes 3.8-3.9 mm 
long, smooth. Fruit a drupe, subglobose to 
pyriform (due to fleshy apex of pedicel/stipe), 
± laterally compressed, shiny, 14—19 mm long 
and 11-17 mm across, yellow-orange when 
ripe, glabrous, persistent calyx tube present 
but not prominent on surface; pericarp firm, 
and leathery; mesocarp fleshy, containing 
four pyrenes. Pyrenes oblong-elliptic in 
outline, 7-11 mm long, 5-6 mm wide, 2-3.5 
mm thick, 1-seeded; endocarp cartilaginous, 
pale brown, rugose, with an open basal 
marginal groove. Seed 7-10 mm long, 3-4 
mm wide, c. 1 mm thick, thickened at one end 
and tapering to a thin wedge at the other end, 
with an equatorial ring; testa membraneous, 
dark brown, extended into a flange/wing at 
one end; endosperm corneous, white; embryo 
3.7-5 mm long, straight, surrounded by a clear 
71 
and sticky gelatinous membrane; cotyledons 
1.6-2 mm long, 0.7-1.1 mm wide, thin, c. 
twice as broad as the radicle; radicle 1.9-3 
mm long, 0.5-0.6 mm wide. Germination 
epigeal (phanerocotylar); cotyledons ovate, 
22-31 mm long and 14-18 mm wide, base 
cordate-obtuse. Fig 1. 
Additional selected specimens examined : Queensland. 
Cook District: N.P.R. 212, Mt Finnigan, ridge near Mt 
Shipton, Oct 1999, Ford2290 (CNS); N.P.R. 133, summit 
of Mt Sorrow ridge walk, site 2, Nov 2000, Ford 2532 
et al. (CNS); Parish of Alexandra, Little Cooper Creek, 
Oct 1994, Gray 5810 (CNS); N.P.R. 133, Daintree, end of 
Turpentine road. Little Cooper Creek, Nov 2002, Ford 
AF3680 et al. (BRI, CNS); Thornton Peak, west slope, 
Sep 1992, Le Cussan 143 (CNS); upper slopes western 
fall, Thornton Peak, Sep 1986, Tracey 14992 (CNS); 
S.F.R. 310 Swipers L.A., Nov 1955, White [AFO]01317 
(BRI, CNS); S.F.R. 310, Windin L.A., Oct 1974, Hyland 
7729 (CNS); Stockwellia site, Boonjee, Jun 1995, Cooper 
944 & Cooper (CNS); T.R. 1230 Bartle Frere, Boonjee 
L.A.,Nov \99\, Hyland 14306 (Cm); S.F.R. 755 Boonjie 
LA (on Bartle Frere Track), Dec 1972, Hyland 6594 
(CNS); SFR 755 Bartle Frere, Boonjee L.A., Mar 1993, 
Gray 5645 (CNS); mid slopes western fall Bartle Frere 
track, Oct 1985, Tracey 15546 (CNS); S.F.R. 1230 Bartle 
Frere, Boonjee L.A., Oct 1991, Gray 5345 (CNS); T.R. 
1230, Boonjee L.A., Nov 1987, Hyland 13327 (CNS); 
S.F.R. 755 Bartle Frere, Gosschalk L.A., Gray 6220 
(CNS); S.F.R. 755 Bartle Frere, Coolamon L.A., Nov 
1990, Hyland 14085 (BRI, CNS); on the old pack track 
from Towalla to Chuchabba, Nov 1991, Jago 720 (CNS); 
N.P.R. 904 Wooroonooran, along track to Towalla Mine, 
Sep 2000, FordAF2446 (BRI); S.F.R. 755, Elinjaa L.A., 
Jun 1974, Irvine 911 (CNS). 
Distribution and habitat : Coelospermum 
purpureum is endemic to the Wet Tropics 
in north-eastern Queensland, where it is 
currently known to occur from the Cooktown 
area (Mt Finnigan) to the Topaz-Towalla area 
on the eastern edge of the Atherton Tableland, 
near Mt Bartle Frere (Map 1). However, within 
this large range C. purpureum is confined to 
three distinctive and disjunct populations 
(from north to south): 
1. Mt Finnigan area 
2. Cape Tribulation area, bounded roughly by 
Mt Sorrow, McDowall Range, Thornton Peak 
and Mt Hemmant 
3. Towalla - Topaz area, including Mt Bartle 
Frere. 
This species occurs in predominantly the 
wetter and more mountainous notophyll 
vine-forests/rainforests on soils derived 
