Eupomatia laurina

Eupomatia laurina, commonly named bolwarra, native guava or copper laurel, is a species of plant in the primitive flowering-plant family Eupomatiaceae endemic to Australia and New Guinea.

Description

It grows to between tall, but larger specimens may attain a height of and a trunk diameter of. It has glossy, ovate to elliptic leaves, from long. The branches bear globose to urn-shaped fruit which are green in colour and measure in diameter. They yellow when ripe and contain pale-coloured, edible, jelly-like flesh inside, with many non-edible seeds.

Taxonomy

This species was first described by the Scottish botanist Robert Brown, based on material collected by himself and other crew members between 1801 and 1803, during the circumnavigation of Australia with Matthew Flinders in HMS Investigator. His work was published as appendix III of volume 2 of Flinders' book A Voyage to Terra Australis.
Brown created the new genus Eupomatia to accommodate this plant, and placed it in the family Annonaceae, but in 1845 the French botanist Charles Henry Dessalines d'Orbigny transferred it to the new family Eupomatiaceae.

Ecology

Flowers are pollinated by small weevils, including Elleschodes hamiltoni and others in the same genus.

Distribution and habitat

In Australia, it is found in humid forests of the east coast, from as far south as Nowa Nowa, Victoria, north through New South Wales and Queensland to Cape York Peninsula. In New Guinea, it is found throughout the island's eastern half. It usually grows as an understory plant in rainforests or humid Eucalyptus forests.

Horticulture

In cultivation E. laurina is frost sensitive and prefers a protected, semi-shaded site. It can be propagated from seed or cuttings. Cutting propagated trees produce fruit after two years. Seedlings take four to six years to fruit. Cuttings are not advised as a method of regeneration. Germination from fresh seed commences after around three weeks and completes after five weeks, with a high rate of germination.