''Daphnandra apatela'', the socketwood, light yellowwood or canary socketwood is a common

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 in eastern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It grows in the more fertile alluvial soils and basaltic soils. Distributed from the Watagan Mountains (31° S) in New South Wales to Miriam Vale (24° S) near Gladstone in Queensland.

Naming & taxonomy

A member of the ancient

Gondwana Gondwana () was a large landmass, often referred to as a supercontinent, that formed during the late Neoproterozoic (about 550 million years ago) and began to break up during the Jurassic period (about 180 million years ago). The final stages ...

family Atherospermataceae. Formerly considered ''

Daphnandra micrantha ''Daphnandra micrantha'', the socketwood or Manning River socketwood is a rainforest tree in eastern Australia. It grows near streams in various types of rainforest. Restricted to the Manning River and Hastings River valleys (31° S) of norther ...

'', the Australian socketwood. Recently it has been recognised as a separate species, as published by Richard Schodde. The generic name Daphnandra refers to a similarity of the

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 ...

of the Bay Laurel. Greek ''daphne'' refers to the Bay Laurel, and ''andros'' from the Greek for man. The species name apatela is from the Greek to deceive, because of the similarity to

. A feature where larger branchlets meet the main trunk resembles a "ball and socket" type joint. Hence the common name of ''Socketwood''. Canary Socketwood or Light Yellowwood refers to the colour of the timber.

Description

A medium to large tree, sometimes exceeding 30 metres tall with a trunk diameter of up to 75 cm. Horizontal branches give a dense crown. The base of the stem is sometimes flanged, but not buttressed. Bark is grey and somewhat rough, with raised corky bumps. The bark contains alkaloids which have a similar effect as

strychnine Strychnine (, , US chiefly ) is a highly toxic, colorless, bitter, crystalline alkaloid used as a pesticide, particularly for killing small vertebrates such as birds and rodents. Strychnine, when inhaled, swallowed, or absorbed through the eye ...

, though milder. Small branches covered in downy hairs, flattened when joining to the main branches. Ball and socket type joint where larger branchlets join the main stem.

Leaves

Leaves feature about 20 teeth on each side. The base of the leaf is not toothed. Leaves 3 to 8 cm long, 1.5 to 4 cm wide. The midrib is raised or flattened on the top surface, raised below. Leaf venation more evident below the leaf. 2 to 7 lateral veins from the midrib on each side. The green coloured leaf stem is 3 to 8 mm long. Leaves opposite on the stem.

Flowers and fruit

Flowers from September to October, being white in small

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. Flowers 8 mm in diameter on short stalks. The fruit is a capsule, covered in fine brown hair. Egg shaped, round or sometimes asymmetrical. 12–25 mm long. Fruit matures between December to February, or as late as May. Regeneration from fresh seeds yields a success rate of 10% after 24 days.

References

Daphnandra apatela at PlantNET – NSW Flora Online
access date 29 January 2010 {{Taxonbar, from=Q5221582 Atherospermataceae Trees of Australia Flora of Queensland Flora of New South Wales