Xanthophyllum octandrum (Polygalaceae)

This is a rather common rainforest tree but I found it be one of the harder species to learn because it does not seem to have any spot characters. But lets enjoy the flowers and fruits first, which are like nothing else.

The flowers are around 1cm and superficially resemble a pea flower. They are much smaller than their endemic relative X. fragrans.

The fruits are drammatic – it “bursts” open to reveal a back seed, like a pearl.

The leaves are pretty non-descript, but if you look hard enough you may find some small dark glands randomly scatter on the leaf underside. The dark yellow and somewhat thickened petiole is also quite diagnostic.

See iNaturalist entries:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/107163833
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/107163835

About David Tng

I am David Tng, a hedonistic botanizer who pursues plants with a fervour. I chase the opportunity to delve into various aspects of the study of plants. I have spent untold hours staring at mosses and allied plants, taking picture of pollen, culturing orchids in clean cabinets, counting tree rings, monitoring plant flowering times, etc. I am currently engrossed in the study of plant ecology (a grand excuse to see 'anything I can). Sometimes I think of myself as a shadow taxonomist, a sentimental ecologist, and a spiritual environmentalist - but at the very root of it all, a "plant whisperer"!
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