''Zygogynum howeanum'', commonly known as hotbark or hot bark, is a species of

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...

in the family

Winteraceae Winteraceae is a primitive family of tropical trees and shrubs including 93 species in five genera. It is of particular interest because it is such a primitive angiosperm family, distantly related to Magnoliaceae, though it has a much more south ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

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 ...

’s

subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Geographical z ...

Lord Howe Island Lord Howe Island (; formerly Lord Howe's Island) is an irregularly crescent-shaped volcanic remnant in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, part of the Australian state of New South Wales. It lies directly east of mainland P ...

in the

Tasman Sea The Tasman Sea (Māori: ''Te Tai-o-Rēhua'', ) is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abe ...

. The specific

epithet An epithet (, ), also byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) known for accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, di ...

refers to the locality.

Description

Hotbark is a tree that grows to 13 m in height. It has a dark, smooth trunk. Its large, bluntly pointed leaves are dark green on the upper surface and paler beneath. The white flowers are 20 mm in diameter, flowering from June to December, and are insect-pollinated. The fruit is a round black berry, 8 mm across, containing 5–15 small seeds.

Distribution and habitat

Occurring mainly in moist and sheltered parts of the forests of Lord Howe's southern mountains – Mounts Gower and Lidgbird – the species forms a distinctive component of the vegetation from sea level to the peaks. Small numbers also occur elsewhere on the island. Within its restricted range it is common and locally abundant.

References

Endemic flora of Lord Howe Island Plants described in 1869 Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller howeanum {{magnoliid-stub