''Cryptocarya oblata'', commonly known as the bolly silkwood, silkwood, bolly, tarzali or tarzali silkwood, 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 north-eastern Queensland. It is a tree with lance-shaped to elliptic leaves, creamy green, perfumed flowers, and flattened spherical to pear-shaped, red to orange

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 oblata'' is a tree that typically grows to a height of up to , its stems usually buttressed. Its leaves are lance-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 shorter than the leaves. They are creamy-green and perfumed, the perianth tube long and wide, the tepals 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 from November to February, and the fruit is a laterally compressed to red to orange drupe, long and wide with white or cream-coloured cotyledons.

Taxonomy

''Cryptocarya oblata'' was first formally described in 1894 by Frederick Manson Bailey in the ''Botany Bulletin'' of the Department of Agriculture Queensland, from specimens collected at the

Daintree River The Daintree River is a river that rises in the Daintree Rainforest near Cape Tribulation in Far North Queensland, Australia. The river is located about northwest of Cairns in the UNESCO World Heritagelisted Wet Tropics of Queensland. The area ...

Distribution and habitat

This species of ''Cryptocarya'' grows rainforest from sea level to an altitude of up to , between

Cooktown Cooktown is a coastal town and locality in the Shire of Cook, Queensland, Australia. Cooktown is at the mouth of the Endeavour River, on Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland where James Cook beached his ship, the Endeavour, for repairs ...

and

Koombooloomba Koombooloomba is a rural locality in the Tablelands Region, Queensland, Australia. In the Koombooloomba had a population of 0 people. The locality was used during the construction of the Kareeya Hydro Power Station. Geography There is a hyd ...

in central eastern Queensland.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15608037 Trees of Australia Flora of Queensland Laurales of Australia oblata Taxa named by Frederick Manson Bailey Plants described in 1894