Flindersia collina


Flindersia collina, commonly known as broad-leaved leopard tree, leopard ash, bastard crow's ash or leatherwood, is a species of tree in the family Rutaceae and is endemic to north-eastern Australia. It usually has pinnate leaves with between three and seven elliptical to spatula-shaped leaves, panicles of white flowers and fruit studded with rough points.

Description

Flindersia collina is a tree that typically grows to a height of. Its bark is shed in oval flakes leaving shallow depressions. The leaves are arranged in more or less opposite pairs and are usually pinnate with between three and seven elliptical to egg-shaped leaflets with the narrower end towards the base. The leaflets are mostly long and wide and sessile. Simple leaves, when present, are a similar shape to the leaflets, long and wide on a petiole long. The flowers are arranged in panicles long and there are usually at least a few male-only flowers. The flowers are about wide, the sepals about long and the petals white and long. Flowering occurs throught the year, but mainly in spring and the fruit is a woody capsule long containing winged seeds long.

Taxonomy

Flindersia collina was first formally described in 1898 by Frederick Manson Bailey in the Queensland Agricultural Journal.

Distribution and habitat

Broad-leaved leopard tree grows in rainforest and dry scrub fromn near sea level to an altitude of and is found between the Lakefield National Park in far northern Queensland to Toonumbar in far north-eastern New South Wales.

Conservation status

Flindersia collina is classified as of "least concern" under the Queensland Government Nature Conservation Act 1992.