''Ceratopetalum'' is a genus of nine species of

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

and

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only ...

in the family

Cunoniaceae Cunoniaceae is a family of 27 genera and about 335 species of woody plants in the order Oxalidales, mostly found in the tropical and wet temperate regions of the Southern Hemisphere. The greatest diversity of genera are in Australia and Tasmania ...

. They are found along the eastern coast of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and extend north to

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

. Two Australian species are among the best known, one being '' C. apetalum'' or coachwood, renowned as a timber tree, and ''C. gummiferum'', the

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

bush. Both New South Wales Christmas bush (''C. gummiferum'') and coachwood (''C. apetalum'') are widespread from south-east

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

to the south coast of

, whereas the other extant Australian species are largely confined to high-altitude montane habitats in north-east

. These restricted distributions have been hypothesised to be refugia from cycles of changing climate during the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

Species

*'' Ceratopetalum apetalum'' D.Don (Coachwood) *''

Ceratopetalum corymbosum ''Ceratopetalum'' is a genus of nine species of shrub and tree in the family Cunoniaceae. They are found along the eastern coast of Australia and extend north to New Guinea. Two Australian species are among the best known, one being '' C. apetal ...

'' C.T.White *'' Ceratopetalum gummiferum'' Sm. (NSW Christmas bush) *'' Ceratopetalum hylandii'' Rozefelds & R.W.Barnes *'' Ceratopetalum iugumensis'' Rozefelds & R.W.Barnes *'' Ceratopetalum macrophyllum'' Hoogland *''

Ceratopetalum succirubrum ''Ceratopetalum succirubrum'' is a species of plant in the family Cunoniaceae. It is found in Australia, West Papua (Indonesia), and Papua New Guinea. It is threatened by habitat loss. First collected by botanists at Gadgarra on the Atherton ...

'' C.T.White *'' Ceratopetalum tetrapterum'' Mattf. *'' Ceratopetalum virchowii'' F.Muell. *†'' Ceratopetalum suciensis'' (

Campanian The Campanian is the fifth of six ages of the Late Cretaceous epoch on the geologic timescale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). In chronostratigraphy, it is the fifth of six stages in the Upper Cretaceous Series. Campa ...

)

Fossil evidence

Fossil evidence for ''Ceratopetalum'' species has been found in

Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...

deposits in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

.Barnes RW, Hill RS.''Ceratopetalum'' fruits from Australian cainozoic sediments and their significance for petal evolution in the genus. ''Australian Systematic Botany'' 12(5) 635 - 645. Named fossil species include ''Ceratopetalum maslinensis'' and ''Ceratopetalum westermannii''.

References

Oxalidales genera {{Oxalidales-stub