Cryptocarya melanocarpa is a species of flowering plant in the family Lauraceae and is endemic to north Queensland. It is a tree with elliptic to oblong to lance-shaped leaves, creamy green, unpleasantly perfumed flowers, and spherical black drupes.
| Cryptocarya melanocarpa | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Magnoliids |
| Order: | Laurales |
| Family: | Lauraceae |
| Genus: | Cryptocarya |
| Species: | C. melanocarpa
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| Binomial name | |
| Cryptocarya melanocarpa | |
Description
editCryptocarya melanocarpa is a tree that typically grows to a height of up to 20 m (66 ft), its stems sometimes buttressed. Its leaves are hairy, glaucous, elliptic to oblong to lance-shaped, 65–135 mm (2.6–5.3 in) long and 20–55 mm (0.8–2.2 in) wide, on a petiole 8–16 mm (0.31–0.63 in) long. The flowers are arranged in panicles mainly in leaf axils or on the ends of branches and are usually shorter than the leaves. They are creamy-green and unpleasantly perfumed. The perianth tube is 1.0–1.1 mm (0.04–0.04 in) long and 1.0–1.4 mm (0.039–0.055 in) wide. The outer anthers are 0.5–0.7 mm (0.02–0.03 in) long, 0.4–0.5 mm (0.016–0.020 in) wide and glabrous, the inner anthers 0.5–0.8 mm (0.02–0.03 in) long and about 0.4 mm (0.02 in) wide. Flowering occurs from January to March, and the fruit is a spherical or flattened spherical, black drupe, about 8–10 mm (0.3–0.4 in) long and 9.0–10.5 mm (0.35–0.41 in) wide with white or sometimes cream coloured cotyledons.[2][3]
Taxonomy
editCryptocarya melanocarpa was first formally described in 1989 by Bernard Hyland in Australian Systematic Botany from specimens he collected near the Gillies Highway in 1983.[4] The specific epithet (melanocarpa) means 'black-fruited'.[5]
Distribution and habitat
editCryptocarya melanocarpa grows in rainforest at altitudes between 700 and 1,100 m (2,300 and 3,600 ft) between the Windsor Tableland and Millaa Millaa in north Queensland.[2]
Conservation status
editThis Cryptocarya species is listed as of "least concern" under the Queensland Government Nature Conservation Act 1992.[6]
References
edit- ^ "Cryptocarya melanocarpa". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
- ^ a b Le Cussan, J.; Hyland, Bernard P.M. "Cryptocarya melanocarpa". Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water: Canberra. Retrieved 25 July 2024.
- ^ "Cryptocarya melanocarpa". Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
- ^ "Cryptocarya melanocarpa". Australian Plant Name Index. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
- ^ Sharr, Francis Aubi; George, Alex (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings (3rd ed.). Kardinya, WA: Four Gables Press. p. 250. ISBN 9780958034180.
- ^ "Cryptocarya melanocarpa". Queensland Government Department of Environment and Science. Retrieved 4 August 2024.