Cryptocarya glaucescens
Jackwood by the Hacking River, Royal National Park, Australia
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Magnoliids
Order:	Laurales
Family:	Lauraceae
Genus:	Cryptocarya
Species:	C. glaucescens
Binomial name
Cryptocarya glaucescens R. Br.

Cryptocarya glaucescens, known as the Jackwood is a rainforest tree growing in eastern Australia.

Contents 1 Habitat 2 Description 2.1 Bark, trunk & leaves 2.2 Flowers, fruit & germination 3 Uses 4 Gallery 5 References

[edit] Habitat

Very common in warm temperate rainforest areas, but often seen in the other rainforest types. It grows from Mount Dromedary (36° S) in southern New South Wales to Eungella National Park (20° S), in tropical Queensland. Common names include Jackwood, Native Laurel, Brown Beech, Brown Laurel and Silver Sycamore.

[edit] Description

Cryptocarya glaucescens is a medium sized tree to 35 metres tall and 90 cm in trunk diameter.

[edit] Bark, trunk & leaves

The bark is dark brown or reddish brown and often scaly. Surface not smooth with many irregularities. Bark can contain circular depressions, colloquially known as "bollies", which are also seen in the related laurel, Litsea reticulata. The trunk may or may not be cylindrical, and the base is usually buttressed in large trees.

Leaves are alternate and elliptical, 6 to 13 mm long. Upper surface green, underside a glaucous bluish grey. Hence the species name of Cryptocarya glaucescens. Midrib and lateral nerves and net veins are visible on both sides of the leaf, but more obvious beneath.

[edit] Flowers, fruit & germination

Flowers appear from October to December, being cream or pale green. Flowers are small and numerous in panicles. These panicles may be shorter or longer than the leaves.

The fruit is a drupe. Black and shiny, of an appealing oblong or spherical shape. With vertical lines and wrinkles. 18 mm long and 15 mm deep. The aril has a unique, tangy and pleasant scent. Fruit eaten by rainforest birds including the Topknot Pigeon. Fruit ripe from March to June.

Unlike most Australian Cryptocarya fruit, removal of the fleshy aril is not particularly advised to assist seed germination, as the aril is so thin. Roots and shoots usually appear within three to six months.

[edit] Uses

Timber is pale brown. Sapwood not attacked by powder post borer.

[edit] Gallery

Jackwood growing by the Hacking River, Australia	Jackwood growing by the Hacking River, Australia	Jackwood bark, Hacking River, Australia	Jackwood fruit
Jackwood seedlings	Jackwood seedlings	Juvenile Jackwood growing at Chatswood West	Juvenile Jackwood growing at Chatswood West
large Jackwood growing by the Hacking River, Australia

[edit] References

• Floyd, A.G., Rainforest Trees of Mainland South-eastern Australia, Inkata Press 1989, ISBN 0-909605-57-2