Androcalva fraseri

Brush Kurrajong at Bawley Point, NSW

Androcalva fraseri at Bawley Point, NSW - 24 Dec 2018
Androcalva fraseri at Bawley Point, NSW - 24 Dec 2018
Androcalva fraseri at Bawley Point, NSW - 24 Dec 2018
Androcalva fraseri at Bawley Point, NSW - 24 Dec 2018
Androcalva fraseri at Bawley Point, NSW - 24 Dec 2018
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Identification history

Androcalva fraseri 24 Dec 2018 BettyDonWood
Androcalva fraseri 24 Dec 2018 BettyDonWood
Unidentified 18 Dec 2018 GLemann

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User's notes

Growing on roadside - probably exotic.

9 comments

BettyDonWood wrote:
   24 Dec 2018
This far north, it is unlikely to be Androcalva rossii, which has larger leaves, and tends to be whitish on the backs of the leaves. Fraseri tends to be rusty on the backs of the leaves. https://apps.lucidcentral.org/plants_se_nsw/text/entities/androcalva_fraseri.htm
plants wrote:
   24 Dec 2018
Agree.
GLemann wrote:
   25 Dec 2018
Photo of underside of leaf added. Appears whitish to me.
Sybille wrote:
   25 Dec 2018
I’ve only known this one as Commersonia fraseri, Blackfellows hemp. Is there a name change? Very common here at B Pt.
BettyDonWood wrote:
   25 Dec 2018
Is has been split into two species and had a name change. Androcalava fraseri occurs north from about Bermagui. I have just checked the distributions. Rossii occurs south from about Bermagui.
I think this makes this definitely fraseri. It is very hards to distinguish the two from photos,
JackieMiles wrote:
   26 Dec 2018
Very hard to distinguish the two, fullstop! I haven't really got my head around the difference yet, and the leaf size and shape is super variable in rossii. I've got photos taken in the Wollongong Bot Gardens and on the NSW north coast that look sufficiently different in leaf shape that I figure they must be fraseri, but they both have a white leaf underside. I haven't noticed much difference between plants from north and south of Bermagui. Not sure I believe in this split!
   26 Sep 2024
From the scholarly published botanical revision,
the distinguishing features' wording,
to check for with magnification (a hand lens in the field or a binocular microscope back inside),
here :
Wilkins, C. F. and B. A. Whitlock (2011)
A new Australian genus, *Androcalva*, separated from *Commersonia* (Malvaceae s.l. or Byttneriaceae).
Australian Systematic Botany 24 (5) : 284–349.
—botanical key quotation:
"
37 Stem and flowering stems with white, stellate hairs, or white with tan centres, ~0.5 mm long
– *Androcalva fraseri* (SE Qld; North Coast of NSW)

37 Stem and flowering stems with long golden to ferruginous stellate hairs, ~1 mm long
– *Androcalva rossii* (S NSW; Vic: E Gippsland)
" .

For more than 15 years, I have talked with so many people including great field botanists,
confused by these two species' distinguishing features. I'm not better. I carefully check the plants' stems everytime.

For clarifying and resolving this confusion, going back to the most recent scholarly evidences–based source for the distinguishing features,
has the utmost importance (as i have reproduced above) .

• *Androcalva fraseri* : stems and flowering stems have many white stellate individual hairs (shorter: at 1⁄2 mm average)
(rather than referring to a leaves' undersides' overview of a white appearance or a rusty appearance, which they may have from many other types of hairs there, as that does not have relevance to the distinguishing features between these two species.).

• *Androcalva rossii* : stems and flowering stems have many long golden to ferruginous stellate hairs (longer: at 1 mm average)
(leaves' undersides' overview often has a white appearance or a golden appearance or even a rusty coloured appearance from many other types of hairs there, yet that does not have relevance to the distinguishing features between these two species. ) .
plants wrote:
   27 Sep 2024
This area is probably in an overlap zone, so without looking at every plant, it is difficult to make a consistent definitive ID.
   27 Sep 2024
Yes an overlap region exactly.
Over the years I check and observe both *A. rossii* and *A. fraseri* occurring between at least Kangaroo Valley and Bateman's Bay (or further both? north? and south? – to Bemagui? ) .

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Location information

Sighting information

Species information

  • Androcalva fraseri Scientific name
  • Brush Kurrajong Common name
  • Not Sensitive
  • Local native
  • Non-invasive or negligible
  • Up to 309.94m Recorded at altitude
  • Machine learning
  • In flower
  • Synonyms

    Commersonia fraseri
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