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Cupaniopsis wadsworthii facts for kids

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Cupaniopsis wadsworthii
Cupaniopsis wadsworthii foliage and ripe fruit.jpg
Leaves and flowers of the tuckeroo at Mount Archer National Park Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia
Scientific classification
Genus:
Cupaniopsis
Species:
wadsworthii
Synonyms
  • Cupania wadsworthii (F.Muell.) F.Muell.
  • Harpullia wadsworthii F.Muell.

Cupaniopsis wadsworthii, sometimes commonly named duckfoot and scrub tuckeroo, is an Australian species of shrubs of the flowering plant family Sapindaceae. The grow naturally in rainforests and seasonally dry rainforests, noted as usually "on hill slopes in rocky soil", from Magnetic Island southwards to about Bulburin National Park, central eastern Queensland.

Description

They grow as slender shrubs up to three metres tall with a stem diameter up to 50 cm (20 in). The leaves are pinnate and alternate with four or eight leaflets. The leaflets form a distinctive triangular shape, broad at the tip and terminating in a point at the petiole. In many plants, the broad apex carries two outer and one inner points, producing a pattern similar to the webbing between the toes of waterbirds, and giving rise the common name duckfoot.

The fruits are orange to yellow capsules with three lobes. Inside each lobe there is a glossy dark brown seed. Each seed is covered in a bright orange aril. Fruits ripen from October to December, attracting many birds.

Cupaniopsis wadsworthii flowers
Cupaniopsis wadsworthii flowers
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