Cryptocarya glaucescens 

Location & distribution maps

Phylogeny & links to associated information:

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

Other links:     

Plant  information

Common name:                Jackwood

• Also, native laurel, brown beech, brown laurel, bolly laurel and silver sycamore

Conservation status:  unknown

Etymology:   

Flowers:                  

• Flowers appear from October to December, being cream or pale green

• Flowers are small and numerous in panicles

• These panicles may be shorter or longer than the leaves

Fruit:                         

• The fruit is a drupe

• Black and shiny, of an appealing oblong or spherical shap

•  With vertical lines and wrinkles. 18 mm long and 15 mm deep

• The aril has a unique, tangy and pleasant scent

• Fruit eaten by rainforest birds including the topknot pigeon

• Fruit ripe from March to June

Leaves:         

• Leaves are alternate and elliptical, 6 to 13 cm long

• Upper surface green, underside a glaucous bluish grey

• Hence the species name of Cryptocarya glaucescens

• Midrib and lateral nerves and net veins are visible on both sides of the leaf, but more obvious beneath

Stem & branches: 

• The bark is dark brown or reddish brown and often scaly

• Surface not smooth with many irregularities

• Bark can contain circular depressions, colloquially known as "bollies", which are also seen in the related laurel, Litsea reticulata

• The trunk may or may not be cylindrical, and the base is usually buttressed in large trees

Roots:         

Habit:        

• A medium-sized tree to 35 m tall and 90 cm in trunk diameter

Habitat:   

Distribution:                  

• Growing in eastern Australia

• Very common in warm temperate rainforest areas, but often seen in the other rainforest types

• It grows from Mount Dromedary (36° S) in southern NSW  to Eungella National Park (20° S), in tropical Queensland

Additional notes:     

• Taxonomy

  • One of the many species first described by Scottish botanist Robert Brown in his 1810 work Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae. 

• Uses

  • Timber is pale brown

  • Sapwood not attacked by powder post borer

  • Horticulture

    • Unlike most Australian Cryptocarya fruit, removal of the fleshy aril is not particularly advised to assist seed germination, as the aril is so thin

    • Roots and shoots usually appear within three to six months.

Sources of information:

• (2023)