| Cryptocarya glaucescens | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Near theHacking River | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Magnoliids |
| Order: | Laurales |
| Family: | Lauraceae |
| Genus: | Cryptocarya |
| Species: | C. glaucescens |
| Binomial name | |
| Cryptocarya glaucescens | |
Cryptocarya glaucescens, commonly known asjackwood,[2]silver sycamore,native laurel,brown beech,bolly laurel orbrown laurel,[3] is a species of flowering plant in thelaurel family and isendemic to eastern Australia. Its leaves are lance-shaped to elliptic, the flowers cream-coloured or pale green, perfumed and tube-shaped, and the fruit a blackdrupe.
Cryptocarya glaucescens is a tree that typically grows to a height of up to 30 m (98 ft) with a trunkdbh of 90 cm (35 in), its stem sometimesbuttressed. The bark is dark brown or reddish brown and often scaly. Its leaves are arranged alternately, lance-shaped to elliptic, 55–100 mm (2.2–3.9 in) long, 25–40 mm (0.98–1.57 in) wide on apetiole 5–9 mm (0.20–0.35 in) long andglaucous on the lower surface.[2][3][4][5]
The flowers are cream-coloured to green, perfumed, arranged inpanicles in leaf axils and usually shorter than the leaves. Theperianth tube is 1.0–1.5 mm (0.039–0.059 in) long and 1.0–1.3 mm (0.039–0.051 in) wide, the outertepals 0.5–0.6 mm (0.020–0.024 in) long and 0.4–0.5 mm (0.016–0.020 in) wide, the inner tepals 0.5–0.6 mm (0.020–0.024 in) long and 0.2–0.4 mm (0.0079–0.0157 in) wide. Theovary is 0.8–1.0 mm (0.031–0.039 in) long and 0.4–0.5 mm (0.016–0.020 in) wide andglabrous with a glabrousstyle. Flowering occurs in October and November, and the fruit is a laterally compress black drupe, 12–21 mm (0.47–0.83 in) long and 13–25 mm (0.51–0.98 in) wide.[2][3][4][5]
Cryptocarya glaucescens was first formally described in 1810 byRobert Brown in his book,Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae.[6][7] Thespecific epithet (glaucescens) means 'becoming bluish-grey or -green'.[8]
Jackwood grows in rainforest, typically in poorer soils, from sea level to an altitude of 1,000 m (3,300 ft), betweenMount Dromedary (36° S) in southernNew South Wales toEungella National Park (20° S), in centralQueensland.
The fruit ofC. glaucescens is eaten by rainforest birds including thetopknot pigeon. Fruit are ripe from March to June.[4]
