Breynia

Queensland

The distinction between B. cernua and B. oblongifolia is very unclear. The key couplet for these species was transcribed from Airy Shaw (1980), who also wrote “I confess to being quite defeated by the baffling variation of the genus Breynia”. In Queensland, the name B. cernua has often been applied to a comparatively distinct taxon with large bright green leaves that grows in or near notophyll rainforest in the north of the state, but the type of B. cernua is from Timor and does not resemble that taxon. Much work is needed to resolve the taxonomy.