Indagator Notes

Indagator fordii Halford

Indagator is a recently described (2002) monotypic genus, endemic to northern Queensland.

I have seen a single photograph of this plant. It has flowers with ferrugineous stellate trichomes (reiminscent of Fremontodendron or Trochetiopsis), 5 pink reflexed petals, a boss of many stamens, either unfused or fused only at the base, with white filaments and orange anthers, and a single white style with a tapered apex.

The original description placed it in tribe Helmiopsideae of family Sterculiaceae, which in the classification used in this site corresponds to subfamily Dombeyoideae of the family Malvaceae sensu APG. Later work by Martin Cheek places it in subfamily Brownlowoideae, among the genera related to Diplodiscus.

Bibliography

Halford, Indagator fordii, a new genus and species of the Sterculiaceae from northern Queensland,. Australia, Austrobaileya 6(2): 337-340 (2002)
Cheek, The identity and conservation status of Indagator fordii (Brownlowiaceae/Malvaceae-Brownlowioideae, formerly Tiliaceae), a monotypic tree genus from Queensland, Australia, Kew Bulletin 62: 641-645 (2007)