Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants - Online edition Myrsine variabilis R.Br. Family: Primulaceae Brown, R. (1810) Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae : 534. Type: Port Jackson, R. Brown; Holo: BM. Common name: Brush Muttonwood; Muttonwood, Brush; Muttonwood Stem A small tree seldom exceeding 30 cm dbh. Oak grain in the wood and a similar pattern in the inner blaze. Leaves Oil dots circular, reddish, visible with a lens. Leaf blades about 6-12 x 2.3-4 cm. Midrib raised on the upper surface of the leaf blade. Lateral veins 18-22 on each side of the midrib. Oil dots globular, Flowers. © G. Sankowsky red, often concentrated near the blade margin. Fine oak grain in the twigs. Flowers Inflorescence much shorter than the leaves, barely exceeding the petioles. Pedicels about 3-5 mm long. Corolla tube about 1.5-2 mm long, corolla lobes about 0.5-1 mm long, outer surface minutely papillose. Ovary about 1 x 1 mm, stigma short and capitate, +/- papillose. Fruit Infructescence much shorter than the leaves, barely exceeding the petioles, pedicels about 3-5 mm long. Calyx lobes persistent at the base of the fruit. Fruits globular, about 4 x 4.5 mm. Oil dots visible Flowers. © G. Sankowsky in the exocarp and in the white fleshed pericarp. Cotyledons about as wide as the radicle or slightly narrower. Seedlings Cotyledons ovate, about 9-12 mm long. First pair of leaves obovate with about 3-5 coarse peg-like teeth on each side of the midrib. At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blade ovate, apex acute, base attenuate, margins serrate, about 6-8 teeth on each side of the leaf blade, glabrous; oil dots reddish. Terminal bud clothed in reddish scale-like hairs. Seed germination time 55 to 95 days. Distribution and Ecology Leaves. © G. Sankowsky Endemic to Australia, occurs in CYP, NEQ, CEQ and southwards as far as south-eastern New South Wales. Altitudinal range in CYP and NEQ from near sea level to 800 m. Grows in drier, more seasonal rain forest and monsoon forest. Natural History & Notes Food plant for the larval stages of the White Lineblue Butterfly. Common & Waterhouse (1981). Synonyms Rapanea variabilis (R.Br.) Mez, Das Pflanzenreich Heft 9 : 355(1902). Rapanea sp. (Clifton Beach R.L. Jago 4080), Names & Distribution of Queensland Plants, Algae & Lichens : 119(2002). Myrsine campanulata F. Muell., Fragmenta 6: 235(1868), Type: Queensland, Basalt 10th leaf stage. © CSIRO Wall, Fletcher Creek, R. Daintree. Holo: MEL. Rapanea campanulata (F. Muell.) Mez, Das Pflanzenr. 9: 356(1902). RFK Code 947 Cotyledon stage, epigeal germination. © CSIRO Copyright © CSIRO 2020, all rights reserved. Scale bar 10mm. © CSIRO Trunk. © G. Sankowsky Web edition hosted at https://apps.lucidcentral.org/rainforest.