Description: Small to medium, slender trees, 5–30 m high; new shoots usually white, sometimes green-brown, glabrous.
Seedling and intermediate leaves alternately arranged, angular-obovate to almost rhombic (in N.S.W.), often longer than adult leaves, 20–200 mm long, 10–55 mm wide; margin slightly crenulate or prominently sinuate and toothed; apex rounded, but often with drip point, with petiole 5–10 mm long. Adult leaves usually alternate or appearing whorled at ends of branchlets; lamina elliptic, obovate or angular obovate to rhombic, 65–140 mm long, 15–35 mm wide; margin entire and undulate, or slightly crenulate to angular-toothed; petiole 10–35 mm long.
Inflorescence terminal, condensed, corymbose, much-branched; flowers bisexual. Sepals usually 5, yellow-green, ovate, 1–3 mm long; margin sparsely hairy. Petals linear-spathulate, 5–9 mm long, cream-coloured to whitish, mostly glabrous; margin recurved and with apex slightly recurved. Stamens with filaments widened at base, tapering to a very narrow connective; anthers versatile, sagittate, 2–3 mm long, yellow-orange. Ovary globose, 2 or rarely more locules; style stout; stigma insignificant.
Fruits many, pear-shaped to tetragonal, 6–16 mm long, 6–20 mm wide (with stipe 2–3 mm long), orange-red colour, unequally 2-locular, rarely 3-locular; seeds either solitary or few; aborted ovules common.
Distribution and occurrence: A genus of six species in northern Australia, only Auranticarpa rhombifolia occurring in N.S.W. Grows in monsoonal forests and rainforest margins.
Text by B.J. Conn
Taxon concept: L.W. Crayzer, M.D. Crisp & I.H.R. Telford (2000)
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