Eupomatia laurina

Family

Eupomatiaceae

Botanical Name

Eupomatia laurina R.Br.

Brown, R. in Flinders, M. (1814) Voyage to Terra Australis 2: . Type: in woods and thickets in the colony of Port Jackson ... (given by A.T.Hotchkiss, J. Arnold Arbor. 36 (1955) 393 as Port Jackson, R. Brown).

Common name

Copper Laurel; Grey Beech; Native Guava; Rose-bush; Bolwarra; Scented Laurel

Stem

Seldom grows beyond 30 cm dbh. Fine oak grain in the wood.

Leaves

Leaf blades about 11-20 x 3.5-7.5 cm. Lateral veins forming loops well inside the blade margin. Leafy twigs smooth and green, marked by small white longitudinally elongated lenticels. Very small oil dots just visible with a lens.

Flowers

Flowers about 20-25 mm diam. Stamens numerous, about 70. Staminal filament base 2 or 3 times as wide as the apex. Carpels numerous, 13-68, closely crowded, +/- embedded in the broad flat receptacle. Ovules 2-11 per carpel.

Fruit

Fruits quite large, about 3-4 cm diam., sub-globose, truncate at the apex, resembling a large eucalypt capsule in outline, but lacking the valves. Seeds embedded in the fleshy receptacle.

Seedlings

Cotyledons elliptic to orbicular, about 10-12 mm long. At the tenth leaf stage: seedling glabrous, lateral veins form loops well inside the blade margin.

Distribution and Ecology

Occurs in CYP, NEQ and southwards to Victoria. Altitudinal range in NEQ from near sea level to 1200 m. Grows as an understory tree in well developed rain forest and wet sclerophyll forest but favoured by disturbance. Also occurs in New Guinea.

Natural History

Stem bark material of this species was active against some tumors. Collins et al. (1990).