Description: Trees.
Leaves opposite and decussate, petiolate, digitately 3- foliolate; leaflets dentate. Stipules 4 per node, large, foliaceous, often persistent.
Inflorescence racemose; flowers bisexual, apetalous, cream to yellowish; calyx lobes 5 or 6, triangular, valvate in bud, scarcely spreading at anthesis; stamens numerous (c.16–32), filaments in a single series, exserted; ovary, ribbed, with indentations corresponding to bases of filaments; gynoecium superior, ovoid–conical, densely woolly, bicarpellate and bilocular, with 2 styles; ovules 16–28(–32) per locule, in 2 rows.
Fruits capsular, ovoid, dehiscing from the apex into 2 valves. Seeds numerous, flat, distally winged.
Distribution and occurrence: World 2 species in Australia NSW and Qld. Rainforest.
The scientific name Karrabina is derived from the name given by Gresty (1946–1947), ‘Karabin(y)’, which is used for these trees in the Yugambeh Language Region that extends from the Logan River to the Tweed River in south-eastern Queensland.
Text by Louisa Murray Taxon concept: Hopkins, H.C.F., Rozefelds, A.C. & Pillon, Y. (2013), Karrabina gen. nov. (Cunoniaceae), for the Australian species previously placed in Geissois, and a synopsis of genera in the tribe Geissoieae. Australian Systematic Botany 26: 167-185
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