Common name: Murraya, Mock Orange, Orange Jasmine, Orange Jessamine, Satin-wood, China-box, Chinese Box, Common Jasmine-orange, Cosmetic Bark Tree, Hawaiian Mock Orange, Honey Bush, Mock Lime
Murraya paniculata (L.) Jack APNI* Synonyms: Murraya exotica L. APNI*
Murraya paniculata var. ovatifoliolata Engl. APNI*
Murraya ovatifoliolata (Engl.) Domin APNI*
Description: Bushy shrub or small tree up to 4 m high (sometimes taller, up to 7 m or more high), often multistemmed with age, glabrous, or young branches and petioles minutely pubescent.
Leaves compound with rachis 6–11.5 cm long; leaflets 3–9, glossy, narrow-elliptic or elliptic to ± ovate or obovate, 1.5–7 (-9) cm long, (0.5-) 1.2–3 (-6) cm wide, apex abruptly and obtusely acuminate, base cuneate, margins entire to obscurely crenate; citrus odour when crushed.
Inflorescences terminal or upper axillary cymes of up to 8 fragrant flowers; petals oblong-obovate, 10–18 mm long, curved backwards, white.
Berry ovoid to ellipsoid, c. 10 mm long, bright red when mature, shiny.
Flowering: irregularly throughout the year but most common late winter – spring.
Distribution and occurrence: commonly cultivated, sometimes naturalised, e.g. recorded from Coocoomback Is. in the Manning R., Taree, in drier lowland subtropical rainforest in alluvial soil. Native of India and Malesia to New Caledonia and northern Australia.
NSW subdivisions: *NC
Other Australian states: Qld N.T. W.A.
The cultivar Murraya paniculata 'Exotica' (which is sometimes treated as a separate species, Murraya exotica) is not native to Australia but is widely cultivated as a garden and hedge plant. It is a potential environmental weed, e.g. naturalised in NE New South Wales and Queensland. Murraya paniculata 'Min-a-Min' or Dwarf Mock Orange, is a form of Murraya ovatifoliolata which is often treated as a separate species. See also Qld Government Fact Sheet (http://keyserver.lucidcentral.org/weeds/data/03030800-0b07-490a-8d04-0605030c0f01/media/Html/Murraya_paniculata.htm) and Weeds Australia (http://www.weeds.org.au/cgi-bin/weedident.cgi?tpl=plant.tpl&ibra=all&card=S44).
Text by P.G. Richards (revised by P.G. Kodela, April 2012)
Taxon concept: Flora of NSW 2 (1991) , Mabberley in Telopea Vol. 7 (4) May 1998
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data
***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.
|
