About Leea nova-guineensis Valeton
Leea nova-guineensis Valeton, commonly called the bandicoot berry, is an evergreen shrub. It typically grows to around 4 metres (13 feet) tall, and may occasionally grow taller. This multistemmed species has large tripinnate leaves that reach up to 1 metre (3 feet 3 inches) in total length; individual leaflets grow up to 21 centimetres (8.3 inches) long and 9 centimetres (3.5 inches) wide. Its stipules are quite large, and may grow up to 6 centimetres (2.4 inches) long.
Flowers develop in either terminal or leaf-opposed panicles. The flowers are quite small, measuring around 3 millimetres (0.12 inches) long, and have five green or cream petals. The fruit is a berry that may be red, purple or black, and grows up to 15 millimetres (0.59 inches) in diameter.
Leea nova-guineensis grows as an understory plant in rainforest, at elevations ranging from sea level up to 400 metres (1,300 feet). It is native to the Lesser Sunda Islands, the Maluku Islands, New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago, the Santa Cruz Islands, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and the Australian states of the Northern Territory and Queensland. Wompoo fruit doves have been reported eating the fruit of this species.
