Wilkiea hugeliana

Veiny wilkiea
Wilkiea hugeliana at Macquarie Pass National Park
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Magnoliids
Order:	Laurales
Family:	Monimiaceae
Genus:	Wilkiea
Species:	W. hugeliana
Binomial name
Wilkiea hugeliana (Tul.) A.DC.[1][2]
Synonyms[1]
Mollinedia huegeliana F.Muell. orth. var. Mollinedia hugeliana Tul. Wilkiea calyptrocalyx F.Muell. Wilkiea huegeliana S.W.L. Jacobs & J.Pickard

Wilkiea hugeliana, commonly known as veiny wilkiea, common wilkiea or tetra beech,^[3] is a species of flowering plant in the family Monimiaceae, and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is a tall shrub or small tree with egg-shaped, oblong to narrowly elliptic leaves, and male and female flowers on separate plants. Male flowers have 3 or 4 stamens and female flowers have 20 to 40 carpels, and the fruit is a blackish oval drupe with a yellow to orange receptacle.

Wilkiea hugeliana is a tall shrub or small tree, typically 1–8 m (3 ft 3 in – 26 ft 3 in) high with a dbh of up to 10 cm (3.9 in).^[3][4] Its leaves are arranged in opposite pairs, egg-shaped, oblong to narrowly elliptic, 60–150 mm (2.4–5.9 in) long and 10–80 mm (0.39–3.15 in) wide on a petiole 5–12 mm (0.20–0.47 in) long. The leaves are leathery, have a prominent midvein and toothed edges.^[4][3]

Male and female flowers are borne on separate plants, male flowers in leaf axils in groups of 7 to 9, 20–25 mm (0.79–0.98 in) long, each flower spherical, 2–4 mm (0.079–0.157 in) in diameter on a pedicel 4–10 mm (0.16–0.39 in) long with 6 tepals and 3 or 4 stamens. Female flowers are borne on the ends of branchlets or in leaf axils in groups of 5 to 9, 25–30 mm (0.98–1.18 in) long, each flower more or less spherical, 4–6 mm (0.16–0.24 in) in diameter on a pedicel 5–10 mm (0.20–0.39 in) long with 20 to 40 carpels.^[3] Flowering occurs from September to February,^[4] and the fruit is a glossy bluish-black or glossy black drupe with a pale yellow to orange receptacle.^[3]

This species was first formally described in 1855 by Louis René Tulasne who gave it the name Mollinedia hugeliana in Annales des Sciences Naturelles.^[5][6] In 1868, Alphonse Pyramus de Candolle transferred the species to Wilkiea as W. hugeliana in Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis.^[7][8]

The natural distribution is from Mount Dromedary (36° S) near Narooma in south eastern New South Wales to Maryborough (25° S) in south eastern Queensland.^[4] Veiny wilkiea grows in rainforest on the coast and ranges up to 900 m (3,000 ft),^[3] and has a preference for volcanic soils.^[9]

Wilkiea hugeliana is most likely pollinated by Thrips setipennis, a species of thrips. These insects have been found in both male and female flowers.^{[10][11][12][13]}