Cryptocarya amygdalina Nees

Family Description

Evergreen or decidious trees or shrubs, often aromatic; twigs with or without conspicous terminal vegetative buds and rings of bud scale scars. Leaves alternate, sometimes opposite or clustered at branch ends, simple, sometimes shallowly lobed near apex, pinnately veined or strongly 3-veined, exstipulate. Flowers in panicles, eacemes or umbels, umbels often enclosed by subpersistent scales and arranged in fascicles or racemes; unisexual or bisexual, actinomorphic. Perianth segments usually 6, free, in two whorls of 3. Fertile stamens usually 9, rarely 6 or 12, in whorls of 3, innermost filaments usually bearing glands, often with an inner whorl of 3 staminodes; female flowers with 9 or 12 staminodes; anthers dehiscing by 2 or 4 valves. Ovary usually superior, ovile 1, apical, style short, rarely filiform. Fruit a drupe usually borne on enlarged cup-shaped remains of perianth, rarely perianth completely absent or totally enclosing drupe.

Genus Description

Evergreen trees, shoots without winter buds. Leaves alternate, not clustered, pinnately veined. Flowers bisexual in axillary and terminak panicles. Perianth segments 6. fertile stamens 9 with2-celled anthers, outer 6 introse, inner 3 extrose. Fruit ellipsoid, completely enclosed by adnate, unlobed perianth with ring-like scar at apex.

Species description

Leaves coriaceous, oblong-elliptic, 10-22 x 5-9cm, bluntly apivulate or shortly acuminate, base broadly cuenate or rounded, lateral veins 4-7 pairs, glossy above, glabrous and green beneath; petioles 1-2cm. Panicles 15-25cm, puberulous. Perianth segments ovate, 1.5-2mm, puberulous. Fruit ovoid, 2-2.5 x 0.8-1cm, tapering to acute apex.