Axe-Breaker

Coatesia paniculata

BRANCH CONTACT

kingaroy@npq.org.au

Rutaceae

Coatesia paniculata

(Synonym: Geijera paniculata)

AXE-BREAKER, CAPIVI, SCRUB WILGA

Shrub or small tree to 12 m high; bark creamy grey to brownish, blotchy and craterous. Buds and stems hairless; stipules absent.

Leaves simple, alternate; lamina elliptic or ovate, 4–10 cm long, 1.5–4.5 cm wide, apex acuminate to an acute or blunt point or rounded, base cuneate, margins entire, tough and rather thick, surfaces hairless, upper surface glossy dark green, lower surface paler; pinnately veined with 7–12 pairs of lateral veins, distinct but faint on upper surface, faint to obscure on lower surface; oil dots distinct, large, numerous; leaves faintly scented when crushed; petiole 9–14 mm long, grooved, margins incurved.

Inflorescences terminal and in the upper axils, panicles, 3–5 cm long. Flowers bisexual, actinomorphic, usually 5-merous; sepals c. 1 mm long; petals 2.5–3 mm long, spreading, white; stamens usually 5, shorter than petals; carpels 4 or 5, ± free, basally fused, ovaries superior, partly immersed in fleshy disc.

Fruit dry, 1–5 basally fused follicles, 5–7 mm long; follicles usually 2 or 3 or occasionally 1, 4 or 5, glandular-warty, scarcely transversely ribbed when dry; seed 1 per follicle, black, forcibly discharged from dehiscing follicle.

Illustration of leaves & fruit