''Cryptocarya putida'' 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 Queensland. It is a tree with oblong to elliptic or narrowly egg-shaped leaves, brownish, creamy green, unpleasantly perfumed flowers, and oval, black to purplish

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 pleurosperma'' is a tree that typically grows to a height of up to , its stems usually buttressed. Its leaves are oblong to elliptic, to narrowly egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, long and wide, on a petiole long. The flowers are brownish, creamy green and unpleasantly perfumed, 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 about the same length as the leaves. The perianth tube is 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 in November and December, and the fruit is an oval, black to purplish drupe, long and wide with yellowish cotyledons.

Taxonomy

''Cryptocarya putida'' was first formally described in 1989 by Bernard Hyland in '' Australian Systematic Botany'' from specimens collected in 1978.

Distribution and habitat

This species of ''Cryptocarya'' grows as an understorey tree in rainforest, at altitudes between in rainforest, from the Clohesy River to near Townsville in north-east and central-eastern Queensland.

Conservation status

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

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15610318 Trees of Australia Flora of Queensland Laurales of Australia putida Plants described in 1989 Taxa named by Bernard Hyland