''Claoxylon australe'', known as brittlewood is a common rainforest shrub or understorey tree. The habitat is all types of eastern

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

rainforests. The natural range of distribution is from Eden (37° S) in south eastern

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Bowen Bowen may refer to: Places Australia * Bowen, Queensland, a town * Bowen Hills, Queensland, a suburb ** Bowen Hills railway station, a railway station in Bowen Hills ** Bowen Park, Brisbane, a park in Bowen Hills * Bowen Bridge, crossing the Derw ...

(20° S) in tropical

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

Description

A shrub or small tree growing to 9 metres in height and a trunk diameter of 30 cm. The trunk is cylindrical or somewhat flanged at the butt in larger plants. Bark is fawnish brown or grey, fairly smooth with some lines of vertical bumps and other irregularities. Branchlets often hairy, green turning to fawn with

lenticel A lenticel is a porous tissue consisting of cells with large intercellular spaces in the periderm of the secondarily thickened organs and the bark of woody stems and roots of dicotyledonous flowering plants. It functions as a pore, providing a ...

s. Leaves alternate, simple and toothed in an irregular manner. Oblong or elliptical in shape, 5 to 12 cm long with a blunt leaf tip. Leaf stalks 1 to 4 cm long. Usually with two small glands at the apex. The midrib is paler than the leaf itself, venation is more evident under the leaf. Greenish flowers form on

raceme A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...

s in the months of October to November. Male and female flowers on separate plants, being

dioecious Dioecy (; ; adj. dioecious , ) is a characteristic of a species, meaning that it has distinct individual organisms (unisexual) that produce male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproductio ...

. The fruit matures in January to March, being a purple/black capsule. Globular in shape, 6 mm in diameter. Within each of the three lobes of the capsule is one red warty seed. Its fruit is eaten by the

brown cuckoo-dove The brown cuckoo-dove (''Macropygia phasianella'') is a dove in the genus ''Macropygia'' found in Australia from Weipa and Aurukun in the north to Bega, New South Wales, Bega in the south, and most inland at Atherton, Queensland, Atherton and Too ...

and

Australian king parrot The Australian king parrot (''Alisterus scapularis'') is a species of parrot endemic to eastern Australia ranging from Cooktown in Queensland to Port Campbell in Victoria. Found in humid and heavily forested upland regions of the eastern portion ...

References

*
(other publication details, included in citation)
* NSW Flora Online http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Claoxylon~australe retrieved 7 August 2009 {{Taxonbar, from=Q5125837 Acalypheae Malpighiales of Australia Trees of Australia Flora of New South Wales Flora of Queensland Taxa named by Henri Ernest Baillon