Multiple resprouting from diaspores and single cotyledons in the Australian tropical tree species Idiospermum australiense

Abstract

In 1999, Dalling & Harms simulated 100% above-ground herbivory on seedlings of Gustavia superba, a large-seeded species from Barro Colorado Island, Panama, and showed the remarkable ability for cotyledons to regenerate up to eight new shoots. They used this evidence to propose that cotyledon size (at least in this species)was adaptive in surviving pre- and early post-germination hazards (Dalling & Harms 1999). In this note we describe the first record of multiple resprouting in an Australian tropical plant species. Idiospermum australiense (Diels) S. T. Blake (Calycanthaceae) exhibits characteristics similar (but not identical) to G. superba that support the contention of Dalling & Harms (1999).