202 Cassine 
CELASTRACEAE 
Glabrous trees or shrubs. Stipules minute. Leaves simple, alternate or opposite. Inflorescence 
cymose or racemose, bracteate. Flowers actinomorphic, bisexual or unisexual. Perianth 3-5-merous. 
Petals imbricate. Stamens 2-5, filaments inserted on or beneath a usually conspicuous disc. Ovary 
superior or half*inferior, usually partly immersed in disc, 1-10-locular with 1-many ovules per 
locule; stigma (in DR) sessile. Fruit a capsule or a drupe. Seeds often arillate. 
A pantropical family of about 50 genera and 800 species with 14 genera and 34 species in Australia. Five 
genera and 6 species in the NT with 3 genera in the DR. [Jessup, 1984a] 
1. Leaves opposite; fruit indehiscent .........ssessessesssesessessssesssseessesessneessneesseecssesessesseesssnecsaes Cassine 
ih. Leaves alternatesfruit dehiscent hticcrattes.tssetstisrisssretestifcoseenstittiaereseressverstetrasaiert hh ererestast 2 
2. Fruit 4-8 mm long, coriaceous; aril of seed basal, white Maytenus 
2. Fruit 20-40 mm long, woody; aril enveloping seed, red Denhamia 
CASSINE L. 
About 80 species, pantropical; 2 species in Australia with 1 in the NT. 
C. melanocarpa (F.Muell.) Kuntze 
Elaeodendron melanocarpum F.Muell. 
Dioecious evergreen shrub or small tree to 6 m. 
Bark smooth, grey. Stipules caducous. Leaves 
opposite; petioles 7-11 mm long; blades obovate 
to elliptic, 50-130 mm long, 22-90 mm wide, 
L/B 1.6-2.5, coriaceous, dentate. Inflorescence a 
short axillary cyme. Petals 3(4), ovate, 1.5-2 mm 
long. Disc swollen, fleshy. Male flowers: calyx 
irregularly lobed; stamens 3, inserted on disc 
margin. Female flowers: sepals 3-4, often with 
short lobes between; staminodes 3(4); ovary conical, 
3-locular; stigma entire. Fruit a drupe, black, 
hard, shiny, globular, 15-20 mm diam. Seeds 
1-3. Flowering: Aug - Mar; fruiting: most months. 
Fig. 68 
Coastal or subcoastal regions of northern Australia 
to southern Qld. Rare in the DR where known from 
Tipperary and the headwaters of the Adelaide R. 
Commonly in coastal vine thickets. 
DENHAMIA Meissner 
An Australian endemic genus of c. 7 species; 1 species in the NT. 
D. obscura (A.Rich.) Meissner ex Walp. 
Evergreen small tree to 9 m; trunk fluted. Bark 
smooth, pale grey, becoming dark and rough. Leaves 
alternate; petioles 5-10 mm long; blades discolorous, 
lower surface with pale waxy cuticle, elliptic or 
oblanceolate, 50-120 mm long, 9-38 mm wide, L/B 
2.7-5.4, entire; juvenile leaves coarsely dentate and 
holly-like. Inflorescence cymose, paniculate, to 110 
mm long. Flowers bisexual, greenish. Sepals 5, c. 1.3 
mm long. Petals 5, 2-3.5 mm long. Stamens 5, 
inserted on margin of annular disc. Ovary partly 
immersed in disc, imperfectly (2)3-locular, 6(7) 
ovules per locule; stigmas 3. Fruit a capsule, 
pale greenish yellow, ovoid or globular, 25-40 mm 
long, woody. Seeds 5-6 mm long, enveloped in 
red aril. Flowering: June - Sept; fruiting: May - Dec. 
Fig. 68 
Occurs from the Kimberley, disjunctly to Arnhem 
Land. Common in the DR in Eucalypt savanna on a 
variety of well drained soils. The inner bark of the 
roots is bright yellow to orange and is readily 
flammable. 
