''Cryptocarya floydii'' is an Australian

rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...

tree. It occurs in steep dry rocky

gullies A gully is a landform created by running water, mass movement, or commonly a combination of both eroding sharply into soil or other relatively erodible material, typically on a hillside or in river floodplains or terraces. Gullies resemble lar ...

in northern

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 ...

and adjacent areas in

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_ ...

as far north as

Bunya Mountains National Park Bunya Mountains is a national park in the South Burnett Region, Queensland, Australia. Geography The park includes much of the mountain range called the Bunya Mountains. The park are encompasses the most westerly area of subtropical rainforest ...

. It grows as far south as the upper gullies of the

Guy Fawkes River Guy Fawkes River, a perennial stream that is part of the Clarence River catchment, is in the New England and Northern Tablelands districts of New South Wales, Australia. Course and features Guy Fawkes River rises below Majors Point, on the nor ...

and the

Macleay River The Macleay River is a river that spans the Northern Tablelands and Mid North Coast districts of New South Wales, Australia. Course and features Formed by the confluence of the Gara River, Salisbury Waters and Bakers Creek, the Macleay River r ...

. The common name is gorge laurel or Glenugie laurel, after the type locality of Glenugie Peak, near

Grafton, New South Wales Grafton ( Bundjalung-Yugambeh: Gumbin Gir) is a city in the Northern Rivers region of the Australian state of New South Wales. It is located on the Clarence River, approximately by road north-northeast of the state capital Sydney. The closest m ...

. This laurel is considered rare, with a

ROTAP Rare or Threatened Australian Plants, usually abbreviated to ROTAP, is a list of rare or threatened Australian plant taxa. Developed and maintained by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), the most recent edition ...

rating of 3RCi. It is named after the eminent rainforest botanist

Alexander Floyd Alexander Geoffrey Floyd (1 April 1926 – 12 December 2022) was an Australian botanist with an expert knowledge of rainforest plants, particularly the rainforest trees of New South Wales. He has worked with the New South Wales Forestry Commiss ...

Description

A small tree with a dark dense crown of leaves, up to 15 metres tall and with a trunk diameter of 25 cm. The trunk is irregular, sometimes fluted and buttressed and multi stemmed. Dark coloured bark, tough to touch with wrinkles, bumps and vertical lines. Small branches dark green to black, leaf buds with soft hairs. Leaves 30 to 110 mm long, 10 to 35 mm wide Leaves broad

lanceolate The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regular o ...

in shape with a long tip and a yellow midrib.

Flowers & fruit

Fragrant pale green flowers form from October to November. Petals 1 mm long. The fruit is a black shiny

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'') ...

, globular around 12 mm long. A thin layer of flesh over the relatively large seed would offer little nourishment for feeding birds.

considers this fruit to be

mimetic Mimesis (; grc, μίμησις, ''mīmēsis'') is a term used in literary criticism and philosophy that carries a wide range of meanings, including '' imitatio'', imitation, nonsensuous similarity, receptivity, representation, mimicry, the ...

. As the fruit resembles more fleshy fruits such as the vine

Tetrastigma nitens ''Tetrastigma nitens'' is a species of liana native to seasonal tropical forests and gallery forests of tropical and subtropical eastern Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign cou ...

. The seed is ribbed and pointed as is the case with many

Cryptocarya ''Cryptocarya'' is a genus of evergreen trees belonging to the laurel family, Lauraceae. The genus includes more than 350 species, distributed through the Neotropical, Afrotropical, Indomalayan, and Australasian realms. Overview The genus inc ...

seeds. Fruit matures from February to April.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q5190840 Flora of New South Wales Flora of Queensland Trees of Australia floydii Laurales of Australia Vulnerable biota of Queensland Vulnerable flora of Australia