Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants - Online edition Ardisia elliptica Thunb Family: Primulaceae Thunberg, C.P. (1798) Nova Genera Plantarum 8: 119. Type: Sri Lanka. Common name: Shoe-button Ardisia Stem Usually flowers and fruits as a shrub about 2 m tall. Leaves Leaf blades about 10-13 x 3.5-4.5 cm, petioles about 0.9-1.6 cm, grooved on the upper surface. Lateral veins curving inside the blade margin and forming inconspicuous loops. Oil dots translucent in fresh material (pink to red in dried leaves), numerous, rather large, mainly orbicular in shape with a scattering of streaky dots. Flower. © Barry Jago Flowers Features not available. Fruit Fruits depressed globose, about 10-12 mm diam, calyx persistent at the base. Seeds globose, about 6 mm diam. Testa with longitudinal striations. Embryo about 4 mm long. Radicle about 3.5 mm long, much longer than the cotyledons. Seedlings Fruit [not vouchered]. CC-BY J.L. Cotyledons broadly elliptic to orbicular, about 13-22 x 7-11 mm, glabrous, petioles short, about 2-3 Dowe mm long. Oil dots red. First pair of leaves about 22-28 x 10-14 mm, petioles 2-4 mm long. Oil dots red. At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blade narrowly elliptic, oil dots red, mainly orbicular in shape. Seed germination time 61 days. Distribution and Ecology An introduced species originally from Asia, now naturalised in NT, CYP, NEQ, CEQ and in south- east Queensland and north-east New South Wales. Altitudinal range from close to sea level to 800 m. Grows in moist rain forest and swampy areas. Natural History & Notes This species may have medicinal properties. Previously this species was incorrectly referred to as Ardisia solanacea. Scale bar 10mm. © CSIRO Synonyms Ardisia solanacea Roxb., Hort. Bengal : 16(1814), Type: India. Ardisia humilis Vahl, Symb. Bot. 3: 40(1794), Type: Ind. or.: Malaya. RFK Code 3511 Cotyledon stage, epigeal germination. © CSIRO Copyright © CSIRO 2020, all rights reserved. 10th leaf stage. © CSIRO Web edition hosted at https://apps.lucidcentral.org/rainforest.