Description: Shrubs or trees with copious milky latex.
Leaves opposite or in whorls of 3 or 4, with numerous, ± transverse secondary veins.
Flowers in terminal or upper axillary cymes. Calyx segments thick, without glands. Corolla tubular, lobes spreading, overlapping to the left in bud. Stamens enclosed in the tube, not fused, free from the style. Ovary of 2 distinct carpels united by the style; style head conical; ovules 4–6 in each carpel.
Fruit a pair of drupes, often solitary by abortion; endocarp with 2 prominent cavities, the seeds on a central placenta between the cavities, seeds usually 4–6, broad, flattened.
Distribution and occurrence: World: 21 spp., Mauritius to N.G., Aust., N.C., Hawaiian Is & Bonin Is. Aust.: 2 spp. (1 sp. endemic), Qld, N.S.W.
Both O. elliptica and O. moorei also occur in Queensland, where the two species might not be separable on fruit length. See Foster, P.I. (1996) Ochrosia, pp. 134–137 in Flora of Australia 28, Gentianales.
Text by G. J. Harden & J. B. Williams
Taxon concept:
| | Key to the species | |
| 1 | Leaves 3 or 4-whorled, obovate, oblong or broadly elliptic; fruit 3–4 cm long; Lord Howe Island. | Ochrosia elliptica |
| Leaves opposite, narrowly obovate or elliptic; fruit 4–8 cm long; North Coast. | Ochrosia moorei |
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