Lasjia whelanii, also known as Whelan's silky oak, Whelan's nut oak or Whelan's macadamia, is a species of large forest tree in the protea family that is endemic to north-eastern Queensland, Australia.

Lasjia whelanii
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Order:	Proteales
Family:	Proteaceae
Genus:	Lasjia
Species:	L. whelanii
Binomial name
Lasjia whelanii (F.M.Bailey) P.H.Weston & A.R.Mast, 2008
Synonyms
Helicia whelanii F.M.Bailey, 1889 Macadamia whelanii (F.M.Bailey) F.M.Bailey, 1901

History

The tree was first described in 1889 by Queensland's colonial botanist Frederick Manson Bailey as a species of Helicia, which in 1901 he moved to Macadamia, but was transferred in 2008, in a paper in the American Journal of Botany by Peter Weston and Austin Mast, to the new genus Lasjia.

Description

The dark green leaves are 6–21.5 cm long by 2–6.5 cm wide, with four or five leaves in each whorl. The white flowers grow as inflorescences. The globular fruits are 4–5 cm in diameter, with the seeds strongly cyanogenetic (cyanide producing) and poisonous to humans. It produces a useful timber, suitable for construction work.[1]

Distribution and habitat

The species occurs in the Wet Tropics of Queensland, in well-developed lowland tropical rainforest, from near sea level to an altitude of 650 m.[1]

References

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