Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Cryptocarya glaucescens

Flowering stem. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, Australian National Botanic Gardens, Canberra, ACT

Stem with overripe fruit. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, Australian National Botanic Gardens, Canberra, ACT

Tree. Photographer Ian McMaster, Sunshine Coast, Qld

Common name

Jackwood, Silver sycamore

Family

Lauraceae

Where found

Rainforest. Coast, ranges, and the eastern edge of the tablelands, north of Bermagui.

Notes

Tree to 30 m high, the base on larger trees sometimes flanged or buttressed. Fruit fleshy. Bark brown and more or less scaly. Young stems angular, covered with appressed, fawn hairs, soon becoming hairless. Leaves aromatic when rubbed, alternating up the stems, usually 5–13 cm long, 20–40 mm wide, upper surface green and shiny, lower surface glaucous and ashy-grey, often blotchy, hairless at maturity; midrib broad and yellowish, tips shortly narrowed to a blunt point. Flowers more or less fragraat, cream to greenish, or yellowish, 3-4 mm long, tubular, with 6 'petals' 1.3–1.9 mm long. Flower clusters shorter or scarcely longer than the leaves. Flowers Oct.–Nov. Fruit glossy black, bilobed, ribbed, 10–15 mm long, ripe Mar.–Aug.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Cryptocarya~glaucescens (accessed 7 January, 2021)