Flueffea 
discolorous, usually elliptic, ovate, obovate, or 
broadly elliptic, 26-125 mm long, 15-63 mm wide, 
L/B 1.4-2.2, with fine reticulate venation prominent 
below, base cuneate or attenuate, margin entire, apex 
acute, rounded or shortly acuminate. Inflorescence a 
many-flowered axillary fascicle. Flowers dioecious, 
white, scented; sepals 5, free, 1-1.2 mm long, 
suborbicular, the outer 2 shorter than the inner 3. Male 
flowers: pedicels filiform, to 3 mm long; stamens 5, 
filaments c. 2 mm long, alternating with 5 glands; 
pistillode present with style 2- or 3-fid, c. 1 mm 
long, lacking an ovary; anthers 2-celled, opening 
longitudinally by 2 valves. Female flowers: pedicels 
EUPHORBIACEAE 221 
to 3 mm long; disk flattened with an irregular 
margin; ovary with 3 locules each containing 2 
ovules; styles 3, recurved bifid for c. half their 
length. Fruit fleshy, white, depressed globular, 
c. 3.5 mm long, c. 5 mm diam. Seeds 6, pale, 
shiny. Flowering: Nov - June; fruiting: Jan - July. 
Fig. 73 
Distributed across northern Australia, Malesia, 
tropical Africa, China and Japan. Common in the 
DR. Often in monsoon forest, in riparian communi- 
ties, floodplain margins, rocky slopes and beach 
dunes. Fruits are edible (Wightman et al., 1991; 
Wightman et al., 1992). 
GLOCHIDION J.R. & G.Forst. 
Evergreen or semideciduous trees or shrubs. Stipules persistent. Leaves alternate, entire, discolorous. Flowers 
in short axillary or supra-axillary fascicles, monoecious. Perianth 6-merous, in two series, smaller in female 
flowers. Male flowers with filiform pedicels, perianth obovate, stamens 3, united in a central column. Female 
flowers pedunculate or epedunculate, styles 3, united, together forming a dome on the apex of the ovary. Fruit 
a thin walled capsule, depressed globose, 3-locular with 2 ovules per locule, 6-lobed. Seeds red, retained on 
placenta after capsule wall shed, in shape a segment of a sphere. 
The genus contains c. 300 species distributed through tropical Asia, Madagascar, Australasia and Polynesia 
with a few species in tropical America. Fourteen species are recorded for Australia, 5 in the NT and 2 in the 
DR. [Airy Shaw, 1980a,b] 
1. Large tree; inflorescence shortly pedunculate and inserted above the axils; 
stipules acute to ODtUSE oo... eeeeeeteseseseseeeseseseeeeseees 
1. Small tree or shrub; inflorescence epedunculate, axillary; stipules subulate ..............000 
G. perakense Hook. f. var. supra-axillare (Benth.) 
Airy Shaw 
A tree to 20 m tall. Bark brown, fibrous, inner bark 
red. Usually glabrous throughout, inflorescence and 
leaf undersurfaces rarely shortly tomentose. Stipules 
triangular, 1-1.5 mm long. Petioles c. 5 mm long. Leaf 
blades elliptic or ovate, less commonly oblong or lan- 
ceolate, 65-180 mm long, 25-75 mm wide, L/B (1.3)2- 
3(4), often unequal, base rounded to cuneate, apex 
acute to acuminate. Inflorescence supra-axillary fas- 
cicles on peduncles 1-7 mm long. Male flowers on 
filiform pedicels 3-15 mm long. Female flowers on 
pedicels 4-10 mm long. Fruit yellow-green, 5 mm 
long, 6-10 mm diam., usually tomentose, weakly 
lobed to entire, up to 6 per inflorescence. Seeds pale 
red, c. 3 mm long. Flowering and fruiting: Sept - Mar. 
Fig. 73 
New Guinea, Solomon Is. and northern Australia 
in Qld and the NT. In the DR, common in its restricted 
habitat. Occurs in monsoon forest associated with per- 
manent streams. 
G. perakense 
G. xerocarpum 
G. xerocarpum (O.Schwarz) Airy Shaw 
A semideciduous small tree or shrub to 6 m tall. 
Bark dark grey, rough. All parts with a short whitish 
tomentellous indumentum, the upper surface of the 
leaves sparsely hairy to glabrescent. Stipules 
persistent, triangular, tapering to a fine point, 1.5-3 
mm long. Petioles 2-4 mm long. Leaf blades 
oblong-elliptic, elliptic, ovate or oboyate, 35-140 mm 
long, 10-55 mm wide, L/B 1.6-2.7, base rounded to 
cuneate, margin entire, apex obtuse to shortly 
acuminate or acute. Venation prominent or obscure 
below. Male flowers: pedicels 2.5-8 mm long. 
Female flowers: pedicels 4-5 mm long with up to 
3 fruit per inflorescence. Fruit yellowish- 
green, depressed globular, 7-8 mm long, 8-15 mm 
diam., glabrescent, lobed. Seeds red, 5-6 mm long. 
Flowering: Sept - Dec; fruiting: Sept - Apr. Fig. 73 
Found in Indonesia as far west as Java, in New 
Guinea, the Philippines and in northern Australia. 
Common in the DR. The habitat of this species is 
