Hydnophytum dentrecastense (Normanby Island, PNG)
€40.00
Product information "Hydnophytum dentrecastense (Normanby Island, PNG)"
Hydnophytum dentrecastense
Hydnophytum dentrecastense Jebb & C.R. Huxley is a terrestrial species of the family Rubiaceae, known exclusively from Normanby Island in the D’Entrecasteaux Archipelago (Papua New Guinea). It inhabits open woodlands and scrub on ultramafic soils at altitudes of approximately 400–600 m. The cavities in the caudex are not colonised by ants, but often contain rainwater and are regularly inhabited by cockroaches.
A characteristic feature of this species is the relatively small, irregularly spherical caudex with strikingly large, conical entry openings. The shoots are quadrangular and bear lanceolate leaves with a strikingly silvery-green upper surface and distinctly rolled-back leaf margins. The inflorescences, arranged in pairs, are sessile to short-stalked and bear white, heterostylous flowers with a ring of hairs at the throat of the corolla tube. The fruits are small, red berries. The combination of quadrangular shoots, the silvery-green upper leaf surface, the rolled-back leaf margins and the large entry openings of the caudex constitutes the most important identifying characteristics of the species.