Cryptocarya glaucescens
Jackwood
Jackwood
Wikipedia links: Angiosperms > Magnoliids > Laurales > Lauraceae > Cryptocarya glaucescens
Other links:
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)