Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Litsea reticulata

Fruit. Photographer Peter Woodard,  Foxground, SW of Kiama

Leaves. Photographer Ian McMaster, Eurimbula, Qld

Tree. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Denise Grieg, Lamington National Park, Qld

Common name

Bolly gum, Bollywood

Family

Lauraceae

Where found

Rainforest. Coastal north from Jervis Bay. Rarely in the ranges or on the tablelands.

Notes

Tree to 40 m tall. Fruit fleshy.  Bark smooth, marked by oval depressions, often scaly. Stems hairless. Leaves aromatic when rubbed, alternating up the stems, 5–1 cm long, 15–40 mm wide, often very small on exposed trees, hairless, leathery, upper surface green and rather glossy, lower surface paler, margins appearing more or less translucent. Tips pointed on and blunt on adult trees. Male and female flowers on different plants. Flowers cream to greenish, with 4-6 'petals' each 1.5-5 mm long. Flowers in irregular clusters. Fruit purple to black, 10-14 mm long, seated in a hollow cup.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Litsea~reticulata (accessed 22 January, 2021)