Description: Dioecious or gynodioecious, spineless small trees, bark furrowed or smooth and branchlets with circular to horizontal lenticel protusions. Stipules deciduous after several nodes.
Leaves opposite, in 3's or 4's, sessile or petiolate, entire, domatia in primary (rarely secondary) vein angles or absent.
Inflorescences many-flowered thrysoids, dichasial cymes or triads, rarely solitary, either appearing pseudoaxillary on main axis or terminal on long spindly lateral branches bearing numerous reduced leaves. Flowers male and female and dimorphic, or hermaphrodite, 5-merous, pedicillate or sessile; calyx cylindrical or tubiform, truncate or with triangular lobes; corolla white or cream, turning brown with age; urn-shaped; anthers sessile or on short filaments, medifixed, fertile anthers longer than sterile anthers; style clavate, stigma 2. Disc annular. Ovary 2-locular, ovules numerous.
Fruit a berry; seeds few to many, dark brown.
Distribution and occurrence: World c. 40 species: Micronesia, Phillipines, Indonesia, Papua and New Guinea, Soloman Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Fiji, Tonga and Tahiti. Australia: 7 species native (6 endemic), Qld, NSW. Simple mesophyll vine forests, swamp forests and marine semi-deciduous vine thickets.
This genus takes its name from atractos - a spindle, carpos - a fruit.
Text by Louisa Murray
Taxon concept: Puttock C.F.(1999) Revision of Atractocarpus (Rubiaceae: Gardenieae) in Australia and New Combinations for Some Extra-Australian Taxa, Australian Systematic Botany Vol. 12 (2), 271-309.
| | Key to the species | |
| 1 | Apical buds protected by overlapping (imbricate) stipules | Atractocarpus stipularis |
| Apical buds protected by a connate stipular sheath which splits down one side as leaves emerge | 2 |
| 2 | Leaves with domatia in midvein-secondary vein angles (northern NSW) | Atractocarpus benthamianus |
| Leaves without domatia in midvien secondary vein angles
Back to 1 | Atractocarpus chartaceus |
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