Camptostemon Mast.

Scientific Description

Family Bombacaceae.

Habit and leaf form. Mangrove trees, or shrubs (with an indumentum of peltate scales; pneumatophores often present); evergreen. Plants unarmed. To 8–33 m high. Leaves medium-sized; alternate; spiral; petiolate; simple. Leaf blades dorsiventral; entire; obovate, or oblong, or elliptic; pinnately veined; cuneate at the base, or rounded at the base. Mature leaf blades adaxially glabrous (or glabrescent); abaxially densely peltate scaly. Leaves with stipules (scaley, linear-lanceolate). Stipules caducous. Leaf blade margins entire.

Reproductive type, pollination. Fertile flowers hermaphrodite. Unisexual flowers absent. Plants hermaphrodite.

Inflorescence and flower features. Flowers aggregated in ‘inflorescences’. Inflorescence few-flowered (3–7 flowers). Flowers in umbels; pedicellate; small; more or less regular. Floral receptacle developing an androphore. Perianth with distinct calyx and corolla; 10; 2 -whorled; isomerous. Calyx present; 5; 1 -whorled; gamosepalous; lobed; lobulate (3-lobed or truncate); spreading; hairy (scaley abaxially, sericeous adaxially); cupuliform; persistent. Epicalyx present (of 3 basally connate bracteoles). Corolla present; 5; 1 -whorled; polypetalous (adnate to the base to the staminal tube); imbricate; hairy abaxially (actually densely peltate scaly); glabrous adaxially; plain; white. Petals oblong, or obovate. Androecium present. Fertile stamens present. Androecial members indefinite in number. Androecium about 20. Androecial members coherent (connate: filaments connate, in the lower part, into a tube and free and spreading in the upper part); 1 - adelphous. Androecium exclusively of fertile stamens. Stamens about 20. Anthers separate from one another; dehiscing via longitudinal slits (i.e. a peripheral slit); unilocular, or bilocular. Pollen grains spinulose. Gynoecium 2 carpelled. The pistil 2 celled. Gynoecium syncarpous; eu-syncarpous; superior. Ovary plurilocular; 2 locular; sessile. Gynoecium stylate. Styles 1; forked. Stigmas 2; 2 - lobed, or 3 - lobed. Ovules 1 per locule.

Fruit and seed features. Fruit 10–15 mm long; non-fleshy; yellow (or silvery); hairy (actually scaley); dehiscent; a capsule (obovoid). Capsules loculicidal (by 2 valves). Dispersal unit the seed. Fruit 1 seeded, or 2 seeded. Seeds small; conspicuously hairy (floccose).

Geography, cytology, number of species. World distribution: Phillipines, Borneo, New Guinea and northern Australia. Native of Australia. Not endemic to Australia. Australian states and territories: Western Australia, Northern Territory, and Queensland. Northern Botanical Province. A genus of 3 species; 1 species in Western Australia; 0 endemic to Western Australia.

Economic uses, etc. The light-coloured soft timber of C. schultzii is suitable for moulding and interior finish.

Etymology. From the Greek for "flexible, curved" and "thread or stamen".