Eupomatia laurina R.Br.

Brown, R. in Flinders, M. (1814) Voyage to Terra Australis 2 : . Type: in woods and thickets in the colony of Port Jackson .. (given by A.T.Hotchkiss, J. Arnold Arbor. 36 (1955) 393 as Port Jackson, R. Brown).

Copper Laurel; Grey Beech; Native Guava; Rose-bush; Bolwarra; Scented Laurel

Seldom grows beyond 30 cm dbh. Fine oak grain in the wood.

Leaf blades about 11-20 x 3.5-7.5 cm. Lateral veins forming loops well inside the blade margin. Leafy twigs smooth and green, marked by small white longitudinally elongated lenticels. Very small oil dots just visible with a lens.

Flowers about 20-25 mm diam. Stamens numerous, about 70. Staminal filament base 2 or 3 times as wide as the apex. Carpels numerous, 13-68, closely crowded, +/- embedded in the broad flat receptacle. Ovules 2-11 per carpel.

Fruits quite large, about 3-4 cm diam., sub-globose, truncate at the apex, resembling a large eucalypt capsule in outline, but lacking the valves. Seeds embedded in the fleshy receptacle.

Cotyledons elliptic to orbicular, about 10-12 mm long. At the tenth leaf stage: seedling glabrous, lateral veins form loops well inside the blade margin. Seed germination time 25 to 46 days.

Occurs in CYP, NEQ, CEQ and southwards to Victoria. Altitudinal range in NEQ from near sea level to 1200 m. Grows as an understory tree in well developed rain forest and wet sclerophyll forest but favoured by disturbance. Also occurs in New Guinea.

Stem bark material of this species was active against some tumors. Collins et al. (1990).