About Melicope elleryana (F.Muell.) T.G.Hartley
Melicope elleryana is a shrub or tree that typically reaches 18 to 25 metres (59 to 82 feet) in height, with a trunk diameter of around 60 centimetres (24 inches). Its bark is pale brown, corky in texture, and is especially corky at the base of the trunk. Leaves of Melicope elleryana are arranged in opposite pairs, are trifoliate, and grow from a petiole 20 to 110 millimetres (0.79 to 4.33 inches) long. Leaflets are elliptical, sometimes egg-shaped, measuring 55 to 200 millimetres (2.2 to 7.9 inches) long and 35 to 80 millimetres (1.4 to 3.1 inches) wide; the end leaflet sits on a petiolule 5 to 17 millimetres (0.20 to 0.67 inches) long. The flowers are bisexual and arranged in panicles 25 to 60 millimetres (0.98 to 2.36 inches) long. Sepals are round to egg-shaped, 1.3 to 2 millimetres (0.051 to 0.079 inches) long, and joined at the base. Petals range from pink to white, are 3.5 to 6.5 millimetres (0.14 to 0.26 inches) long, and each flower has four stamens. Flowering takes place from November to February. The fruit is made up of up to four follicles 5 to 8 millimetres (0.20 to 0.31 inches) long, each containing shiny black seeds 2 to 3 millimetres (0.079 to 0.118 inches) in diameter. Melicope elleryana grows in coastal and inland forest, woodland, and rainforest, from sea level up to an altitude of 760 metres (2,490 feet). It is distributed from the Maluku Islands east to the Solomon Islands, and south to New Guinea and northern Australia. Within Australia, it occurs in far north-eastern Western Australia, the Top End of the Northern Territory, northern and eastern Queensland, and extends south to the Clarence River in northern New South Wales. Ecologically, this tree is the favoured food plant for the Ulysses butterfly, Papilio ulysses. Its germination is unpredictable, starting within 30 days or sometimes taking several years. Soaking the seeds for several days appears to remove some of the germination inhibitors. This species is often cultivated as an ornamental tree. In New Guinea, it is reported to be used to flavour palm wine; an exudate from its bark is used as an adhesive, for caulking canoes, and as a wound treatment.
