Symplocos wooroonooran Jessup

Jessup, L.W. (2011) Austrobaileya 8(3): 249-250.

Small Leaved Hazelwood; White Hazelwood

Usually grows into a small tree seldom exceeding 30 cm dbh but also flowers and fruits as a shrub. Narrow, brown, brittle inclusions usually visible in the blaze.

Petioles dark or purplish. Leaf blades about 3.6-6.5 x 1.1-3.5 cm. Lateral veins forming loops inside the blade margin.

Inflorescence about 2 cm long. Calyx lobes about 0.5-1 mm long. Corolla about 3-4 mm long. Stamens 15-35. Style about 2-5 mm long.

Fruits ovoid to ampulliform, about 6-15 x 4-8 mm, often crowned by the persistent calyx lobes. Endocarp thick and hard, longitudinally ribbed, stone +/- ampulliform, about 5-9 x 4-5.5 mm.

Cotyledons linear, 10-20 mm long. First pair of leaves elliptic, margins with 1-3 teeth on each side, glabrous. At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blade elliptic, apex acute, base attenuate, glabrous, upper 2/3 of margin toothed. Seed germination time 196 days.

Endemic to NEQ, restricted to the higher mountain tops of Mt Bartle Frere and Mt Bellenden Ker. Altitudinal range in NEQ from 850-1600 m. Grows as an understory tree in upland and mountain rain forest but also grows as a shrub in stunted rain forest in windswept situations.

Symplocos stawellii var. montana C.T.White, Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland 50: 82 (1939). Type: Mount Barlte Frere, H. Flecker, No. 857 (flowers), 7th October, 1935.  Symplocos cochinchinensis var. montana (C.T.White) Noot., Brunonia 4(2): 318-319 (1982).