Cryptocarya lividula B.Hyland

Hyland, B.P.M. (1989) Australian Systematic Botany 2: 193. Type: B. Gray 1851: State Forest Reserve 310, Gillies Logging Area, 10.xii.1980 (QRS, holotypus).

Blue Laurel; Laurel, Blue

Blaze odour spicy or slightly resembling coconut (Cocos nucifera). A thin cream or pale brown layer generally visible beneath the subrhytidome layer before the first section of the outer blaze.

Twigs fluted and clothed in straight, brown, appressed hairs, particularly when young. Leaf blades about 6-9.3 x 1.9-4 cm, often with a bluish sheen on the upper surface, glaucous on the underside, rarely green, clothed in straight, pale brown, appressed hairs when young but eventually becoming almost glabrous. Midrib translucent, raised or flush with the upper surface. Petioles flat or channelled on the upper surface. Oil dots visible with a lens.

Inflorescence paniculate, not exceeding the leaves. Flowers unpleasantly perfumed. Lower half of the perianth tube glabrous or pubescent on the inner surface. Tepals about 1.5-2 mm long, pubescent on the outer surface. Ovary and style glabrous.

Fruits globular about 11.5-14 x 11.5-14 mm. Cotyledons cream.

First pair of leaves ovate to cordate, about 40-52 x 18-28 mm, glaucous on the underside. At the tenth leaf stage: apex long, acuminate; leaves glaucous on the underside; oil dots very small, visible with a lens. Petioles hairy. Seed germination time 23 to 58 days.

Endemic to NEQ. Altitudinal range from 180-1000 m. Grows in well developed rain forest on a variety of sites.

This species has little commercial value and has seldom been converted into sawn timber. Wood specific gravity 0.93. Hyland (1989).