Blepharocarya involucrigera
Blepharocarya involucrigera is a tree in the mango and cashew family Anacardiaceae. It is endemic to Queensland, Australia. Common names include north Queensland bollygum, northern bollygum and rose butternut.
Description
Blepharocarya involucrigera grows best in well developed rainforest, where it can reach in height with a dense rounded canopy, but in marginal habitats it may only reach. The leaves are compound with 10 to 18 opposite leaflets, up to long and up to wide, elliptic to ovate in shape. Mature leaves are dark green above and paler beneath, while new growth is a rosy red. Above the basal pair of leaflets the rachis is flattened on the upper surface with angular edges.Large terminal panicles of small, pale green to white flowers appear in the spring. This species is dioecious, that is, male and female flowers appear on separate plants.
Fruits are small and flattened, around long by wide, with small hairs along the margins. They are enclosed within a green, fibrous involucre, which dries and opens to release the fruit, becoming brown and woody in the process. The dry involucres may persist on the tree for some time and are often found on the ground underneath mature trees. This very distinctive fruit and the flattened rachis make easily recognisable key identifiers for the species.