Neolitsea Dealbata

''Neolitsea dealbata'', also known as white bolly gum, hairy-leaved bolly gum, or simply bolly gum (amongst others), is a shrub or small tree in the laurel family Lauraceae which is native to New South Wales and Queensland in Australia.

Description

The bolly gum is an evergreen tree growing up to high, the trunk can reach diameter and may be buttressed. The twigs are densely covered in fine brown hairs on the younger parts and are terete (circular in cross-section). The leaves are generally elliptic but may be obovate or lanceolate, and new growth is also covered in brown hairs. They measure between long by wide. The upper surface is glossy green, the underside is whitish or glaucous.

The inflorescence is an umbel produced in the leaf axils or directly from the twigs. There are up to five flowers per umbel, cream, yellow or pale brown in colour, and measuring from long. The female flowers are about half as long as male ones. The globose (roughly spherical) fruit is a drupe up to in diameter, green when immature and dark red to black when ripe, and they contain a single seed.

Taxonomy

This species has been given several names since it was first described in 1810 by the Scottish botanist Robert Brown, who originally called it ''Tetranthera dealbata''. Later, the genus ''Tetranthera'' was subsumed by '' Litsea'' , and the German botanist Nees von Esenbeck published a new name for the species - ''Litsea dealbata'' - in 1836. In 1838 Constantine Samuel Rafinesque, a French polymath, again revised ''T. dealbata'' in his book ''Sylva telluriana'' and gave it the new combination ''Bryantea dealbata''.

Rafinesque's work, despite being a validly published name, was largely ignored by his contemporaries and in 1948 the American botanist Elmer Drew Merrill published a new combination that is still accepted, i.e. ''Neolitsea dealbata''.

Etymology

The genus name ''Neolitsea'' is a combination of the Ancient Greek word néos (meaning "new") and the pre-existing genus name '' Litsea''. The members of ''Neolitsea'' were mostly transferred from ''Litsea''. The species epithet ''dealbata'' is Latin for "whitewashed", and refers to the white undersides of the leaves.

Vernacular names

Many common names have been used for this plant, including those in the following list. Other variations exist which are minor differences between, for example, "bollygum" and "bolly gum", etc.

*black ash
*bolly gum
*grey bollywood
*native mulberry
*pigeon-berry tree
*white bollywood
*white bollygum
*velvet-leaf bollywood
*hairy-leaved bollygum

Distribution and habitat

The bolly gum has a wide distribution on the coast and adjacent tablelands of eastern Australia, stretching from islands of the Torres Strait south to the Illawarra region south of Sydney. It is an understory species found in rainforest and wet sclerophyll forest on a variety of soil types, and at altitudes from sea level to .

Ecology

This plant is a host species for larvae of the moths '' Acrocercops ordinatella'' and '' Gibbovalva quadrifasciata'', as well as the blue triangle butterfly (''Graphium sarpedon''). Cassowaries (''Casuarius casuarius'') and fruit doves (genus ''Ptilinopus'') are known to eat the fruit of these trees, and it’s likely that many other frugivorous birds do so as well. The fungus '' Phyllachora queenslandica'' is found on ''Neolitsea dealbata''.

Gallery

File:Neolitsea-dealbata-SF22246-06.jpg, Young plant in rainforest near Malanda, Queensland
File:Neolitsea dealbata 238048548.jpg, New growth
File:Neolitsea-dealbata-SF21348-06.jpg, Dense brown hairs on twigs and petioles
File:Neolitsea-dealbata-SF21348-01.jpg, Foliage
File:Neolitsea dealbata 269393162.jpg, Underside of leaves
File:Neolitsea-dealbata-ALA-1.jpg, Inflorescences
File:Neolitsea dealbata 269393028.jpg, Fruit in various stages of development

References

External links

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View a map
of historical sightings of this species at the Australasian Virtual Herbarium

View observations
of this species on iNaturalist

View images
of this species on Flickriver

Notes

{{Taxonbar, from=Q13861083

Flora of New South Wales
Flora of Queensland
Laurales of Australia
dealbata
Taxa named by Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773)
Endemic flora of Australia