''Cryptocarya macdonaldii'', commonly known as McDonald's laurel, McDonald's cryptocarya or Cooloola laurel, is a species of flowering plant in the family

Lauraceae Lauraceae, or the laurels, is a plant family that includes the true laurel and its closest relatives. This family comprises about 2850 known species in about 45 genera worldwide (Christenhusz & Byng 2016 ). They are dicotyledons, and occur ma ...

and is endemic to Central Queensland. It is a tree with elliptic to egg-shaped to oblong leaves, cream-coloured, unpleasantly perfumed flowers, and elliptical 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 macdonaldii'' is a tree that typically grows to a height of up to , its stems sometimes buttressed. Its leaves are elliptic to egg-shaped to oblong, 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 in leaf axils or on the ends of branches and are usually longer than the leaves. They are cream-coloured and unpleasantly perfumed. The perianth tube is 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. Flowering occurs in January and February, and the fruit is an elliptical, black drupe, about long and wide with creamy-yellow cotyledons.

Taxonomy

''Cryptocarya macdonaldii'' was first formally described in 1989 by Bernard Hyland in '' Australian Systematic Botany'' from specimens he collected near the Bonogin Creek Road in 1983.

Distribution and habitat

''Cryptocarya macdonaldii'' grows in rainforest at altitudes between sea level and between Proserpine and Eungella and from Miriam Vale to south of Brisbane in Central Queensland.

Conservation status

This ''Cryptocarya'' is listed as of "least concern" under the Queensland Government '' Nature Conservation Act 1992''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15607463 macdonaldii Trees of Australia Flora of Queensland Laurales of Australia Taxa named by Bernard Hyland Plants described in 1989