Cryptocarya burckiana



Cryptocarya burckiana is a tree in the laurel family and is native to Cape York Peninsula in Queensland and to Malesia. Its leaves are lance-shaped to elliptic, the flowers cream-coloured and tube-shaped, and the fruit a spherical black drupe.

Description
Cryptocarya burckiana is a tree that typically grows to a height of 10 m, its stems sometimes buttressed. Its leaves are lance-shaped to elliptic, 105–165 mm long and 45–80 mm wide on a petiole 6–13 mm long. The flowers are usually arranged in panicles and are not perfumed. The tepals are 1.1–1.9 mm long and 0.8–1.3 mm wide, the outer anthers 0.5–0.6 mm long and wide, the inner anthers 0.5-0.7 mm long and 0.4–0.5 mm wide. Flowering occurs from November to January, and the fruit is a spherical black drupe 13–15 mm long and 11–13 mm wide.

Taxonomy
Cryptocarya burckiana was first formally described in 1891 by Otto Warburg in Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie. The specific epithet (burckiana) honours William Burck.

Distribution and habitat
This species of Cryptocarya grows in lowland rainforest and gallery forest at altitudes up to 100 m and is found on Cape York Peninsula in far north Queensland and in the Kai islands in Indonesia.