Cryptocarya
Jackwood, Cryptocarya glaucescens, is a common large tree in the fragments of original rainforest that persist along Ourimbah Creek. Once every few years it produces a bumper crop of fruit that birds distribute far and wide.
When it germinates, its seed leaves remain buried and the shoot emerges from between them, as in the photo below. The alternate leaves are reddish when young. Lilly pilly leaves have a similar colour, but are opposite.
