''Cryptocarya corrugata'', commonly known as corduroy laurel, oak walnut, acidwood or bull's breath, is a species of flowering plant in the laurel family and is endemic to north Queensland. It is a tree with egg-shaped to elliptic leaves, the flowers creamy-green, slightly perfumed and tube-shaped, and the fruit a spherical black to bluish-black

drupe In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is an indehiscent fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pit'', ''stone'', or '' pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed (''kernel'') ...

Description

''Cryptocarya corrugata'' is a tree that typically grows to a height of , its stems sometimes buttressed, and its twigs more or less fluted and densely covered with twisted brown hairs. Its leaves are egg-shaped to elliptic, long and wide on a petiole long. The flowers are arranged in

panicle A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a panicle are of ...

s usually shorter than the leaves, greenish-cream and more or less perfumed, the perianth tube long and wide. The tepals are long and wide. The outer

anthers The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filam ...

are long and wide, the inner anthers long and wide and hairy. Flowering occurs from November to January, and the fruit is a black to bluish-black drupe long and wide.

Taxonomy

''Cryptocarya corrugata'' was first described in 1926 by Cyril Tenison White and

William Douglas Francis William Douglas Francis (6 March 1889 – 2 January 1959) was an Australian botanist. Born in Bega, New South Wales, at the age of 17 he moved with his father Alfred, and brother Frederick, from Wollongong, New South Wales, where he attende ...

in the ''

Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland ''Proceedings of The Royal Society of Queensland'' is a multidisciplinary scientific journal In academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication intended to further the progress of science, usually by reporting new re ...

'' from specimens collected by Francis in the

Eungella Range Eungella may refer to: Places * Eungella, Queensland, a rural town and locality in the Mackay Region, Australia * Eungella National Park, a protected area in the Mackay Region, Queensland, Australia * Eungella Dam, a dam in Queensland, Australia * ...

in 1922.

Distribution and habitat

Corduroy laurel grows in mountain rainforests at altitudes from from Cooktown to Eungella in north-east and central-eastern Queensland.

Ecology

The fruit is eaten by

cassowaries Cassowaries ( tpi, muruk, id, kasuari) are flightless birds of the genus ''Casuarius'' in the order Casuariiformes. They are classified as ratites (flightless birds without a keel (bird anatomy), keel on their sternum bones) and are native t ...

and fruit pigeons.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15606941 Laurales of Australia Trees of Australia corrugata Plants described in 1926 Flora of Queensland Taxa named by Cyril Tenison White Taxa named by William Douglas Francis