Steganotaenia araliacea var. araliacea flowering

The inflorescences of Steganotaenia araliacea var. araliacea are compound stem-tip umbels, collectively up to 20 cm in diameter. The small flowers are densely clustered, appearing before the leaves in late winter and throughout spring, somewhat similar to those of carrots, a relative in the Apiaceae family.

The flowers are white, greenish-white or pale yellowish, growing on stalks from 3 mm to 7 mm long. The flowers are bisexual or male, the floral parts occurring in fives. The calyx is toothed, while the petals have long, incurving tips, keeled inside.

The flattened, oblong or wedge- to heart-shaped fruit is two-winged, 13 mm long and 8 mm wide. Fruits hang in dense pale-green clusters from stem-tips, later as they dry, turned pale creamy brown. The two mericarps split from each other when ripe allowing the dispersal of two seeds.

Fruits are visible on the tree from the end of spring, sometimes remaining there for several months, in other instances dropping off early (Mannheimer and Curtis, (Eds.), 2009; Coates Palgrave, 2002; Schmidt, et al, 2002).