Ptaeroxylon obliquum flowers

The flowers of the sneezewood tree or Ptaeroxylon obliquum are nearly white, pale yellow or yellow with a bright orange centre. They are 7 mm in diameter and fragrant, growing in short, branched clusters in leaf axils, even where a leaf may have dropped off already.

This is usually a dioecious species, although exceptions are found with both sexes on the same tree. The female tree flowers also show staminodes (undeveloped stamens) while the flowers on male trees have vestigial ovaries beside their normal features. The floral parts occur in fours, the sepals being tiny and the petals oblong and narrow. The flowers in picture are male.

The fruit is a flat capsule that splits into two valves when the seeds are released. The base and tip of the capsule are notched and its colour is reddish-brown to yellowish grey. The fruits are on the tree in summer (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Schmidt, et al, 2002; Poynton, 1975).