Commersonia

Commersonia
C. bartramia
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Rosids
Order:	Malvales
Family:	Malvaceae
Subfamily:	Byttnerioideae
Tribe:	Lasiopetaleae
Genus:	Commersonia J.R.Forst. & G.Forst.
Species
See text.

Commersonia is a genus of trees and shrubs in the family Malvaceae. All occur in Australia; 12 species are endemic there, whereas the other two occur also in Southeast Asia and the western Pacific Islands.

The genus is named after Philibert Commerson (1727–73) a French naturalist who sailed with Bougainville on the expedition of 1766-69.

The most commonly grown species, C. bartramia is named after John Bartram and known as the brown kurrajong or Christmas kurrajong because it flowers at Christmas. At 25 metres high with a girth of 50 centimetres it is a common garden plant in northern New South Wales and southeastern Queensland and grows on rainforest margins, often as regrowth after logging. Its foliage is very characteristically horizontally layered. Alex Floyd's book, Rainforest Trees of South-eastern Australia, notes its distribution is from the Bellinger River in northern NSW to Cape York and Malaysia. Floyd notes the fibrous bark was used by Australian aborigines to make nets for catching kangaroos and fish.

Most of the species in Commersonia have attractive heart-shaped leaves.

Species include^[1] :

• Commersonia argentea Guymer
• Commersonia bartramia (L.) Merr.
• Commersonia beeronensis Guymer
• Commersonia craurophylla (F.Muell.) F.Muell.
• Commersonia fraseri J.Gay
• Commersonia gaudichaudiiJ.Gay
• Commersonia johnsonii Guymer
• Commersonia leichhardtii Benth.
• Commersonia macrostipulata Guymer
• Commersonia melanopetala F.Muell.
• Commersonia microphylla Benth.
• Commersonia pulchella Turcz.
• Commersonia rosea S.A.J.Bell & L.M.Copel.
• Commersonia rossii Guymer
• Commersonia stowardii S.Moore
• Commersonia tatei F.Muell. ex Tate
• Commersonia viscidula Guymer

• 

  The same tree in the taxobox, but 11 months older, illustrating the rapid growth of the species

References

1. ^ "Commersonia". Australian Plant Name Index (APNI), IBIS database. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government, Canberra. http://www.anbg.gov.au/cgi-bin/apni?TAXON_NAME=Commersonia. Retrieved 2010-04-24.