Rough-shelled Queensland Nut
Macadamia tetraphylla · Proteaceae · 마카다미아
How to spot it
Distinguished from the smooth-shelled M. integrifolia by leaves in whorls of four with spiny teeth and a rough-shelled nut.
Look
- Leaves
- Leaves are mostly in whorls of four (rarely three or five), narrow elliptic to oblanceolate, 18 to 25 cm long and 2 to 5 cm wide, with regular stiff spiny teeth along the margin.
- Flowers
- Flowers with a creamy pink to pale purple perianth grow in clusters 10 to 25 cm long and bloom in August to October.
- Fruit
- A follicle 20 to 35 mm across, ripening from gray-green to brown (mature in January); the rough-shelled seed is 15 to 30 mm long.
Where it grows
- Native to
- Native to coastal subtropical rainforest in northern New South Wales, Australia (north of the Clarence River, mainly the Richmond and Tweed valleys) and Queensland.
- Ecology
- A species native to coastal subtropical rainforest, listed as Vulnerable under the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act and the federal EPBC Act.