Melicope rubra, commonly known as the little evodia, is a species of small tree in the family Rutaceae, and is endemic to north-east Queensland. It has trifoliate leaves and pink bisexual flowers arranged on branches below the leaves.
Description
Melicope rubra is a tree that typically grows to a height of with a trunk diameter of about , but forms flowers and fruit as a shrub. The leaves are arranged in opposite pairs and are trifoliate on a petiole long. The leaflets are egg-shaped, long and wide, the leaflets sessile or on a petiolule up to long. The flowers are bisexual and arranged in panicles long on branches below the leaves. The sepals are more or less round to egg-shaped, long and joined at the base. The petals are pink, long and there are four stamens. Flowering occurs from February to June and the fruit consists of up to four follicles long and fused for at least half their length.
Taxonomy
The little evodia was first formally described in 1900 by Carl Adolf Georg Lauterbach and Karl Moritz Schumann who gave it the name Euodia rubra and published the description in Schumann's book, Die Flora der Deutschen Schutzgebiete in der Sudsee. In 2001, Thomas Gordon Hartley changed the name to Melicope rubra in the journal Allertonia.
Habitat and distribution
Melicope rubra grows in forests including rainforest forest from sea level to an altitude of . It is found between Shiptons Flat and Cardwell in north-eastern Queensland.
Conservation status
This species is classified as of "least concern" under the Queensland Government Nature Conservation Act 1992.