208 EUPHORBIACEAE Antidesma 
the main vein. Inflorescence a solitary, interrupted, axillary raceme or spike, with a persistent bract subtend- 
ing each flower. Flowers dioecious, sessile to shortly pedicellate, 3-5-merous, less than 3 mm long; petals 
absent. Male flowers: calyx with 3-5 suborbicular lobes; disk present; stamens 2-5 arising from within the 
disk; anther loculi separate, borne on a thickened connective. Female flowers: calyx with 3-5 triangular lobes; 
styles 3-5, short, bilobed; ovary 1(2)-locular, ovules 2 per locule. Fruit drupaceous, fleshy, compressed 
ellipsoid, red when immature, turning dark.purple to black when ripe; seeds compressed ovoid, endocarp 
irregularly pitted. 
A genus of c. 170 species found in the Old World tropics and subtropics; c. 5 species occur in Australia, with 
2 in the NT. The fruit of many species are edible (Scholefield, 1984). 
ib. Leaves usually >20 mm wide; inflorescence brown tomentose; 
on lowland sites on deep SOILS... eeeseseeeeeeeeseeee 
1. Leaves usually <20 mm wide; inflorescence glabrescent; on Sandstomesisstssissesteersieteoees 
A. ghesaembilla Gaertn. 
Shrub or tree to 8 m tall; bark grey to brown, _fi- 
brous, finely fissured, blaze deep pink. Young growth 
with brownish + crisped hairs, becoming glabrescent 
with age. Indumentum persistent on petioles and 
undersides of leaves. Petioles 3-9 mm long. Leaf 
blades elliptic to broadly elliptic, obovate or broadly 
oblanceolate, 21-104 mm long, 18-60 mm wide, 
L/B 1.2-2.5, base broadly cuneate to rounded, 
occasionally cordate, apex obtuse to slightly 
emarginate. Inflorescence brown tomentose 
throughout, 21-91 mm long. Fruit 4-6 mm long, c. 5 
mm wide. Flowering: with the new foliage, Sept - 
Dec; fruiting: Dec - June. Fig. 70 
In Asia from India and China to New Guinea and 
in northern Australia from the Kimberley to Cape 
York. Common in the DR. Often occurs on the 
margins of floodplains and watercourses, near 
A. ghesaembilla 
A. parvifolium 
monsoon forest and in wetter areas in Eucalypt 
communities. 
A. parvifolium F.Muell. 
Shrub or small tree 1-4 m tall, often with strongly 
developed short leafy lateral shoots. Young shoots 
shortly hairy, becoming glabrous with age. Stipules 
1-2 mm long. Petioles 1-2 mm long. Leaf blades 
glossy above, typically obovate, also elliptic, 8-30 
mm long, 6-20 mm wide, L/B 0.8-2, thin, base 
attenuate, apex rounded to emarginate. Inflorescence 
glabrescent, 20-30 mm long. Fruit 5-6 mm long, 
c. 4 mm wide. Flowering: Nov - Feb; fruiting: Jan - 
June. Fig. 70 
Endemic to Australia in Qld and the NT, from 
Victoria R. to Cape York. In the DR known only from 
McMinns Bluff. On rocky slopes and in rocky gorges 
on sandstone. 
BREYNIA J.R. & G.Forst. 
A genus of c. 25 species occurring from SE Asia to Australia. Two species occur in Australia, with 1 found 
in the NT and the DR. 
B. cernua (Poiret) Muell.Arg. 
Evergreen shrub or small tree to 4 m tall; bark 
brown, finely fissured; all parts glabrous. Stipules 
persistent, triangular, 1-1.5 mm long. Leaves 
alternate; petioles 2.5-5 mm long; blades discolorous, 
elliptic or ovate but occasionally suborbicular, 
obovate or lanceolate, 25-95 mm long, 12-56 mm 
wide, L/B 1.2-2.2, base broadly cuneate, attenuate or 
rounded, rarely truncate, margin entire, apex obtuse 
to rounded, occasionally acute. Inflorescence axillary, 
fasciculate, 1-5-flowered. Flowers monoecious, on 
pedicels to 7 mm long. Male flowers c. 2 mm long, 
with the perianth united into a flat-topped turbinate 
tube, the 6 short blunt inflexed lobes almost closing 
the apical orifice; stamens 3, united into a column; 
anthers 2-celled, adnate to the column, almost 
entirely enclosed by the perianth. Female flowers 
c. 2.5 mm long, the perianth united into a campanulate 
tube with 6 short blunt lobes in 2 series; ovary 
3-locular with 2 ovules in each locule, thick and fleshy 
above the locules; styles 3, short, slightly spreading. 
Fruit a thinly fleshy berry, white when immature, 
