Guymer, Mischocarpus ailae 
93 
Fig. 1. Mischocarpus ailae A. fruiting branchlet * 0.8. B. dehiscing capsule with seed x 1.5. C. domatia on lower leaf 
surface x 10. All from Halford Q9671 & Guymer (BRI). Del. W. Smith. 
Mischocarpus ailae is not closely allied to 
any other species within the genus. However, 
the yellow capsules, orange or yellow aril, 
presence of petals and pilose filaments 
indicate some affinity to M. exangulatus 
(F.Muell.) Radik. 
Notes : The species was first collected by 
C.T.White from Springbrook in 1915 and it was 
identified as possibly Ratonia lachnocarpa (= 
Mischocarpus lachnocarpus). Van der Ham 
(1977) identified this collection and Hayes’ 
from Mount Warning as M. lachnocarpus 
and believed that the flowers of the two 
collections were abnormal as “they consist 
of several whorls of bracteole-like, sepaloid, 
and petaloid scales between which no distinct 
limits can be drawn ....a disk is hardly 
present”. Recent flowering collections show 
the sepals and petals are normally developed 
as is the disk. 
Reynolds (1985a, 1985b) description of 
M. lachnocarpus capsules included those of 
M. ailae (based on McDonald 2821 ) and so 
an amended description of the capsules of this 
species follows. Mischocarpus lachnocarpus 
has capsules that are red or red-orange, 
trigonous, 5-8.5 mm diameter, with dense 
brown pubescence outside of simple erect 
hairs 0.4-1.2 mm long, on stipes 4-7 mm 
long and 1.4-1.6 mm in diameter, apiculate 
with remnants of style and stigmas 1-1.5 mm 
long; loculicidally dehiscent, valves drying 
crustaceous and golden-brown villous inside 
along sutures, and the seeds covered or almost 
so in a blue or purple aril (see Williams (1984, 
p. 203), Nicholson (1994, p. 47) and Cooper 
& Cooper (1994, p. 193; 2004, p. 497) for 
coloured illustrations). 
Conservation status : Mischocarpus ailae 
has a restricted area of occurrence of about 
750 km 2 within the Mt Warning caldera. Its 
