''Cryptocarya obovata'', commonly known as pepperberry, white walnut, long tom, she beech or purple laurel, is a species of flowering plant in the laurel family and is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 foun ...

to eastern Australia. It is a rainforest tree with oblong to egg-shaped leaves, the flowers creamy-green, tube-shaped and unpleasantly perfumed, and the fruit a spherical

drupe In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is a type of fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pip'' (UK), ''pit'' (US), ''stone'', or ''pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed ...

with white or cream-coloured

cotyledon A cotyledon ( ; ; "a cavity, small cup, any cup-shaped hollow", gen. (), ) is a "seed leaf" – a significant part of the embryo within the seed of a plant – and is formally defined as "the embryonic leaf in seed-bearing plants, one or mor ...

Description

''Cryptocarya obovata'' is a tree that typically grows to a height of up to with a dbh of , its stems sometimes buttressed. The leaves are oblong to egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, long, wide and usually

glaucous ''Glaucous'' (, ) is used to describe the pale grey or bluish-green appearance of the surfaces of some plants, as well as in the names of birds, such as the glaucous gull (''Larus hyperboreus''), glaucous-winged gull (''Larus glaucescens''), ...

. The hairy underside of the leaves gives the tree a rusty appearance when viewed from below. The leaf veins are brownish-orange or yellow and prominent with the midrib and lateral veins covered with brown hairs. The flowers are creamy-green and unpleasantly perfumed, arranged in

panicles In botany, 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 p ...

shorter than the leaves. The

perianth The perianth (perigonium, perigon or perigone in monocots) is the non-reproductive part of the flower. It is a structure that forms an envelope surrounding the sexual organs, consisting of the calyx (sepals) and the corolla (petals) or tepal ...

tube is long and wide and softly-hairy on the inside. The outer

tepal A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of very ...

s are long and wide, the inner tepals long and wide. The

ovary The ovary () is a gonad in the female reproductive system that produces ova; when released, an ovum travels through the fallopian tube/ oviduct into the uterus. There is an ovary on the left and the right side of the body. The ovaries are end ...

is long and wide and usually covered with soft hairs. Flowering occurs from January to May, and the fruit is a spherical black drupe, about long and wide, with white or cream-coloured cotyledons.

Taxonomy

''Cryptocarya obovata'' was first formally described in 1810 by

Robert Brown Robert Brown may refer to: Robert Brown (born 1965), British Director, Animator and author Entertainers and artists * Washboard Sam or Robert Brown (1910–1966), American musician and singer * Robert W. Brown (1917–2009), American printmaker ...

in his book, ''

Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae ''Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen'' (Prodromus of the Flora of New Holland and Van Diemen's Land) is a book by the botanist Robert Brown Robert Brown may refer to: Robert Brown (born 1965), British Director, Animator and ...

''. The

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

(''obovata'') means 'inverted egg-shape'.

Distribution and habitat

Pepperberry grows on basaltic and fertile alluvial soils in rainforests from Wyong in

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 ...

Gympie Gympie ( ) is a city and a Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Gympie Region, Queensland, Australia. Located in the Greater Sunshine Coast, Gympie is about north of the state capital, Brisbane. The city lies on the Mary River ( ...

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 ...

. It is extinct in the

Illawarra The Illawarra is a coastal Regions of New South Wales, region in the southeast of the Australian state of New South Wales. It is situated immediately south of Sydney and north of the South Coast, New South Wales, South Coast region. It encompas ...

region of New South Wales, and was allegedly last seen in the Illawarra in 1818 by Allan Cunningham.

Ecology

Fruit ripen from March to May, and are eaten by Australasian figbird, rose-crowned fruit-dove, topknot pigeon and wompoo fruit dove.

Gallery

Image:Cryptocarya obovata00.jpg, Botanical drawing by Margaret Flockton Image:Cryptocarya obovata trunk & leaves.JPG, ''Cryptocarya obovata'' at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney Image:Cryptocarya obovata - bark.JPG, Bark Image:Cryptocaryaobovata-juvenile.JPG, Juvenile Image:Cryptocarya obovata - leaves.jpg, Leaves showing venation

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q975756 Laurales of Australia Trees of Australia Flora of New South Wales Flora of Queensland obovata Plants described in 1810 Taxa named by Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773)