Euroschinus falcatus Hook.f. var. falcatus

Anacardiaceae

Bentham, G. (1863) Flora Australiensis 1: 491.

Cudgerie; Blush Cudgerie; Jenny Donnelly; Maiden's Blush; Maiden's Blush Wood; Pink Poplar; Port Macquarie Beech; Ribbonwood; Chinaman's Cedar

Blaze odour generally faint but resembling mango bark. Bark exudate, if present, meagre and slow to appear.

Leaf blades about 5.5-15 x 1.5-6.5 cm. Freshly broken twigs emit a faint mandarin (Citrus reticulata) or mango (Mangifera indica) odour. Twig lenticels small, normally smaller than a pin's head.

Flowers about 6 mm diam. Sepals triangular, about 1 x 1 mm. Petals about 3 x 1.5-2 mm. Anthers about 1 mm long, filaments about 1.5 mm long. Disk bright orange, surrounding the ovary. Stamens ten, inserted below the margin of the disk. Stigma 3-lobed.

Fruits about 7-8 mm long. Seeds flattened, about 5-7 x 4-6 mm. Large glands or resin cells visible in transverse sections of the pericarp. Cotyledons green. Radicle curved around the base of the cotyledons.

Cotyledons elliptic-obovate, about 9-10 x 5-7 mm, slightly unequal-sided at the base. At the tenth leaf stage: leaflets or leaves hairy along midrib on the upper surface; lateral leaflets of trifoliolate leaves unequal-sided at the base; petiole of middle leaflet longer than those of lateral leaflets. Seed germination time 6 to 13 days.

A widespread species in CYP, NEQ and CEQ, and southwards to south-eastern New South Wales. Altitudinal range from near sea level to 1000 m. Grows in a variety of rain forest types but probably more frequently encountered in the drier types.

This species often produces large fruit crops in which the seeds lack an embryo.

Produces a useful general purpose timber.

Wood specific gravity 0.48. Cause et al. (1989).

Euroschinus falcatus var. typica Domin, Bibliotheca Botanica 89(4): 893(1928). Euroschinus falcatus Hook.f., Genera Plantarum 1 : 422(1862), Type: Australie tropicae orientalis incola. Sunday Island, Qld, 1 Oct 1848, J. McGillivray; syn: K. Euroschinus parvifolia S.Moore, Journal of the Linnean Society, Botany 45 : 197(1920), Type: Queensland, Cumberland Islands; R. Brown, dist. no. 5424. Rhus euroschinus F.Muell., Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae 7: 24(1869).