Litsea granitica B.Hyland

Hyland, B.P.M. (1989) Australian Systematic Botany 2: 262. Type: B. Gray 3833: State Forest Reserve 143 Riflemead, Carbine Logging Area, 3.i.1985 (QRS, holotypus).

Bollywood

Blaze odour usually noticeable but difficult to describe, pepperina (Schinus molle), mango (Mangifera indica) bark, pine-like (Pinus spp.), etc.

Twigs +/- terete or slightly angular, clothed in tortuous, brown, erect hairs when young, eventually becoming almost completely glabrous. Leaf blades about 12-19 x 6-12 cm, green or slightly glaucous on the underside, clothed in tortuous, white and brown, erect hairs when very young, soon becoming almost completely glabrous. Midrib +/- flush or slightly raised on the upper surface. Petioles flat or channelled on the upper surface. Oil dots visible with a lens.

Male flowers: Tepals about 3-3.3 mm long. Glands attached to the staminal filaments. Stamens 9-12 per flower, filaments pubescent at least towards the base. Female flowers: Tepals about 2-3 mm long. Glands attached to the staminodes. Ovary pubescent.

Fruits ellipsoid or globular, about 23 x 18-19 mm. Receptacle about 25-32 x 16.5-19 mm. Seed about 18 x 13-14 mm. Cotyledons cream.

First pair of leaves ovate, about 70-95 x 30-40 mm, slightly glaucous on the underside. At the tenth leaf stage: leaves ovate, apex acuminate, base cuneate or obtuse, upper surface glabrous, underside glaucous; oil dots small, visible only with a lens; petiole with a few scattered hairs only. Seed germination time 22 to 38 days.

Endemic to NEQ, known only from collections from Thornton Peak, the Windsor Tableland and the Mt Spurgeon-Mt Lewis area. Altitudinal range from 1000-1200 m. Grows in mountain rain forests on soils derived from granite.

This species grows large enough to produce millable logs. Wood specific gravity 0.60. Hyland (1989).