Cryptocarya 

Location & distribution maps

Phylogeny & links to associated information:

Wikipedia links:       Angiosperms > Magnoliids  >  Laurales >  Lauraceae > Cryptocarya

Other links:     

Plant  information

Common name:                Mountain laurels   

• Also, Mountain walnuts

Conservation status:  Varies

Etymology:   

• The genus name Cryptocarya is from a Greek word krypto meaning to hide & karya meaning a walnut tree

• The fruit of which was known as karyon, a word also used to describe other fruits

• The fruit are succulent, partially immersed in a deep, thick cup

Flowers:                  

• The species forming this genus share a unique paniculate inflorescence with the ultimate divisions that are not quite cymose; that is, the lateral flowers of what looks like a cyme are not strictly opposite, but tend to be subopposite, while in most genera of Lauraceae with paniculate inflorescences the lateral flowers in a cyme are strictly opposite

Fruit:                         

• The seeds are readily dispersed by fruit-eating birds, and seedlings and saplings have been recorded from other habitats where they are unlikely to develop to maturity

• The fruit, a drupe, is an important food source for birds, usually from specialized genera

• Birds eat the whole fruit and regurgitate seeds intact, expanding the seeds in the best conditions for germination (ornitochory)

• In some species, seed dispersal is carried out by mammals

Leaves:         

Stem & branches: 

Roots:         

Habit:        

• An evergreen tree

• They grow up to 60 m tall

Habitat:   

• Common in the canopy or as subcanopy trees in the succession climax species in tropical, lower temperate, or subtropical broadleaved forests

• The ecological requirements of the genus are those of the laurel forest, mostly from the tropics or warmer temperate areas

• Like most of their counterparts laurifolia in the world, they are vigorous species with a great ability to populate conducive habitats

• The natural habitat of most of species are in rainforest which are cloud-covered for much of the year

• These species are found in forests that face threats of destruction by human deforestation

• Some species are in danger of extinction due to loss of habitat

• They are found in low-elevation evergreen forests and littoral rainforests, on all type of soils

Distribution:                  

• The Neotropical, Afrotropical, Indomalayan, and Australasian realms

• Mostly in tropical and subtropical regions of South America, India, China, Java, New Guinea, Africa, Madagascar, and Mauritius, with 7 species in Southern Africa

Species:                     

• World:           357 

• Australia:       

Additional notes:     

• Taxonomy

  • In a recent generic classification of Lauraceae based on DNA sequence

  • Cryptocarya was found to be part of a strongly supported clade that also includes Beilschmiedia, Potameia, Endiandra and Aspidostemon

  • In both Aspidostemon and Cryptocarya, the fruit are enclosed in the enlarged hypanthium, but this might be a parallel development and not a signal of common ancestry

• Ecology

• Cryptocarya is a genus of great ecological importance

• It is present in low rainforest and montane rainforest, laurel forest, in the weed-tree forests in valleys, and mixed forests of coniferous and deciduous broad-leaved trees

• The differences are ecological adaptations to different environments over a relatively dry-wet and a warmer to mild frost (-2 °C) in temperate climate growing in cooler regions, subject to frost and occasional snow

• The Chilean Cryptocarya alba and the Australian C. erythroxylon and C. foveolata of the mountains of NSW are outstanding for their frost tolerance within a genus having its majority of species growing in tropical climates

• Species in less-humid environments are smaller or less robust, with less abundant and thinner foliage and have oleifera cells that give trees a more fragrant aroma

• Human use

  • The most known trees are used by the timber industry

  • In this genus, the wood of some species has high commercial value

  • C. alba, the peumo, the most common evergreen tree in the Chilean Matorral ecoregion of central Chile, produces edible reddish fruits and is the most known species in the Southern Hemisphere

  • C. massoy is used commercially to produce essential oils

  • C. woodii leaves have been found in prehistoric settlements in Africa and are believed to have been used for insect control

  • Essential oil is commercially harvested from Cryptocarya agathophylla (formerly Ravensara aromatica), a tree native to the lowland rainforests of eastern Madagascar

  • Known as Ravensara oil, it is used for aromatherapy in Europe and America

• Species

  • For full list of the 357 Cryptocarya species see List of Cryptocarya species

  • Some Cryptocarya species

    • Cryptocarya agathophylla – tavolobelelo or clove nutmeg (Madagascar)

    • Cryptocarya alba — peumo (Chile)

    • Cryptocarya angulata — ivory laurel (Australia)

    • Cryptocarya ashersoniana (Brazil)

    • Cryptocarya bidwillii — yellow laurel (Australia)

    • Cryptocarya caesia Blume

    • Cryptocarya chinensis (Hance) Hemsl.

    • Cryptocarya cinnamomifolia (Australia)

    • Cryptocarya crassinervia (Indonesia)

    • Cryptocarya cunninghamiana — Cunningham's laurel (Australia)

    • Cryptocarya densiflora (Indonesia)

    • Cryptocarya elegans (Reinecke) A.C.Sm.

    • Cryptocarya erythroxylon — pigeonberry ash (southeast Australia)

    • Cryptocarya floydii — gorge laurel (Australia)

    • Cryptocarya foetida — stinking laurel (Australia) -vulnerable

    • Cryptocarya foveolata — mountain walnut (southeast Australia)

    • Cryptocarya glaucescens — jackwood (Australia)

    • Cryptocarya grandis — cinnamon laurel (Australia)

    • Cryptocarya gregsonii (Lord Howe Island)

    • Cryptocarya hypospodia (Australia)

    • Cryptocarya laevigata — glossy laurel (Australia)

    • Cryptocarya liebertiana — (Afromontane forests in Tanzania, Mozambique, Malawi, South Africa)

    • Cryptocarya mackinnoniana — rusty laurel (Australia)

    • Cryptocarya mannii (Kaua'i)

    • Cryptocarya massoy (Indonesia)

    • Cryptocarya meissneriana     (Australia)

    • Cryptocarya micrantha Meisn. (Brazil)

    • Cryptocarya microneura — murrogun (Australia)

    • Cryptocarya moschata Nees et Mart. ex Nees (Brazil)

    • Cryptocarya murrayi — Murray's laurel (Australia)

    • Cryptocarya natalensis = Dahlgrenodendron natalense (South Africa)

    • Cryptocarya nigra (Indonesia)

    • Cryptocarya nitens (Indonesia)

    • Cryptocarya nova-anglica — mountain laurel (Australia)

    • Cryptocarya oahuensis (O'ahu)

    • Cryptocarya obovata (Australia)

    • Cryptocarya onoprienkoana — rose maple (Queensland)

    • Cryptocarya palawanensis (Philippines) — endangered

    • Cryptocarya pleurosperma — poison walnut (Australia) — toxic and corrosive sap

    • Cryptocarya pulchrinervia (Indonesia)

    • Cryptocarya rigida — rose maple (Australia)

    • Cryptocarya scortechinii (Indonesia)

    • Cryptocarya triplinervis — brown laurel (Australia)

    • Cryptocarya wightiana Thwaites

    • Cryptocarya williwilliana — small-leaved laurel (Australia)

    • Cryptocarya woodii Engl.

    • Cryptocarya sheikelmudiyana - large (India - Western Ghats - Critically Endangered[5])

  • Cryptocarya palmerstonii is now a synonym of Endiandra palmerstonii, Queensland walnut (Queensland)

Sources of information:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptocarya (2023)