| Cryptocarya | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Magnoliids |
| Order: | Laurales |
| Family: | Lauraceae |
| Genus: | Cryptocarya R.Br. [1] |
| Species | |
over 350; see text | |
| Synonyms [1] | |
| |
Cryptocarya is a genus of evergreen trees belonging to the laurel family, Lauraceae. The genus includes more than 350 species, distributed through the Neotropical, Afrotropical, Indomalayan, and Australasian realms.
 | This section needs additional citations for verification .(October 2023) |
The genus includes species of evergreen trees, distributed mostly in tropical and subtropical regions of South America, India, China, Java, New Guinea, Africa, Madagascar, and Mauritius, with seven species in Southern Africa.
Common in the canopy, they grow up to 60 m, or as subcanopy trees in the succession climax species in tropical, lower temperate, or subtropical broadleaved forests. They are found in low-elevation evergreen forests and littoral rainforests, on all type of soils. The seeds are readily dispersed by fruit-eating birds, and seedlings and saplings have been recorded from other habitats where they are unlikely to develop to maturity.
The genus name Cryptocarya is from a Greek word krypto meaning to hide, karya meaning a walnut tree, the fruit of which was known as karyon, a word also used to describe other fruits. Sometimes, they are called mountain laurels or mountain walnuts. The fruit are succulent, partially immersed in a deep, thick cup.
The species forming this genus share a unique paniculate inflorescence with the ultimate divisions that are not quite cymose; that is, the lateral flowers of what looks like a cyme are not strictly opposite, but tend to be subopposite, while in most genera of Lauraceae with paniculate inflorescences the lateral flowers in a cyme are strictly opposite.
In a recent generic classification of Lauraceae based on DNA sequence, [2] Cryptocarya was found to be part of a strongly supported clade that also includes Beilschmiedia, Potameia, Endiandra and Aspidostemon . [3] In both Aspidostemon and Cryptocarya, the fruit are enclosed in the enlarged hypanthium, but this might be a parallel development and not a signal of common ancestry.
| | This section needs additional citations for verification .(October 2023) |
The ecological requirements of the genus are those of the laurel forest, mostly from the tropics or warmer temperate areas, and like most of their counterparts laurifolia in the world, they are vigorous species with a great ability to populate conducive habitats. The natural habitat of most of species are in rainforest which are cloud-covered for much of the year. These species are found in forests that face threats of destruction by human deforestation. Some species are in danger of extinction due to loss of habitat.
Cryptocarya is a genus of great ecological importance. It is present in low rainforest and montane rainforest, laurel forest, in the weed-tree forests in valleys, and mixed forests of coniferous and deciduous broad-leaved trees.
The differences are ecological adaptations to different environments over a relatively dry-wet and a warmer to mild frost (-2 °C) in temperate climate growing in cooler regions, subject to frost and occasional snow. The Chilean Cryptocarya alba and the Australian C. erythroxylon and C. foveolata of the mountains of New South Wales are outstanding for their frost tolerance within a genus having its majority of species growing in tropical climates. Species in less-humid environments are smaller or less robust, with less abundant and thinner foliage and have oleifera cells that give trees a more fragrant aroma.
The fruit, a drupe, is an important food source for birds, usually from specialized genera. Birds eat the whole fruit and regurgitate seeds intact, expanding the seeds in the best conditions for germination (ornithochory). In some species, seed dispersal is carried out by mammals.
The most known trees are used by the timber industry. In this genus, the wood of some species has high commercial value.
C. alba, the peumo, the most common evergreen tree in the Chilean Matorral ecoregion of central Chile, produces edible reddish fruits and is the most known species in the Southern Hemisphere.[ citation needed ]C. massoy is used commercially to produce essential oils.[ citation needed ]C. woodii leaves have been found in prehistoric settlements in Africa and are believed to have been used for insect control. [4]
Essential oil is commercially harvested from Cryptocarya agathophylla (formerly Ravensara aromatica), a tree native to the lowland rainforests of eastern Madagascar. Known as Ravensara oil, it is used for aromatherapy in Europe and America. [5]
The following is a list of Cryptocarya species with articles on this wiki. For the full list of all 362 accepted species see the page List of Cryptocarya species.
Lauraceae, or the laurels, is a plant family that includes the true laurel and its closest relatives. This family comprises about 2850 known species in about 45 genera worldwide. They are dicotyledons, and occur mainly in warm temperate and tropical regions, especially Southeast Asia and South America. Many are aromatic evergreen trees or shrubs, but some, such as Sassafras, are deciduous, or include both deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubs, especially in tropical and temperate climates. The genus Cassytha is unique in the Lauraceae in that its members are parasitic vines. Most laurels are highly poisonous.
Eucryphia is a small genus of trees and large shrubs native to the south temperate regions of South America and coastal eastern Australia, mainly Tasmania. Sometimes placed in a family of their own, the Eucryphiaceae, more recent classifications place them in the Cunoniaceae. There are seven species, two in South America and five in Australia, and several named hybrids.
Persea is a genus of about 150 species of evergreen trees belonging to the laurel family, Lauraceae. The best-known member of the genus is the avocado, P. americana, widely cultivated in subtropical regions for its large, edible fruit.
Endiandra is a genus of about 126 species of plants, mainly trees, in the laurel family Lauraceae. They are commonly called "walnut" despite not being related to the Northern Hemisphere walnuts which are in the family Juglandaceae.
The wompoo fruit dove, also known as wompoo pigeon and "magnificent fruit dove" among others, is one of the larger fruit doves native to New Guinea and eastern Australia.
Neolitsea dealbata, also known as white bolly gum, hairy-leaved bolly gum, or simply bolly gum, is a shrub or small tree in the laurel family Lauraceae which is native to New South Wales and Queensland in Australia.
Aniba is an American neotropical flowering plant genus in the family Lauraceae. They are present in low and mountain cloud forest in Caribbean islands, Central America, and northern to central South America.
Beilschmiedia is a genus of trees and shrubs in family Lauraceae. Most of its species grow in tropical climates, but a few of them are native to temperate regions, and they are widespread in tropical Asia, Africa, Madagascar, Australia, New Zealand, North America, Central America, the Caribbean, and South America. The best-known species to gardeners in temperate areas are B. berteroana and B. miersii because of their frost tolerance. Seeds of B. bancroftii were used as a source of food by Australian Aborigines. Timbers of some species are very valuable.
Cryptocarya alba, the peumo or Chilean acorn, is an evergreen tree that grows in Chile and Argentina from 33 to 40° southern latitude. It can live both in wet and as in dry conditions. Its distribution can reach up to 1500 meters (5000 ft) above sea level. It measures up to 20 meters (65 ft) height and one meter diameter, with cracked gray bark. An associate tree is the endangered Chilean Wine Palm, Jubaea chilensis, which species prehistorically had a much wider range.
The native flora of Chile is characterized by a higher degree of endemism and relatively fewer species compared to the flora of other countries of South America. A classification of this flora necessitates its division into at least three general zones: the desert provinces of the north, Central Chile, and the humid regions of the south.
Cryptocarya erythroxylon is a medium to large rainforest tree, that grows from the Barrington Tops in New South Wales to the Gladstone area in Queensland. The common name is the pigeonberry ash, rose maple, or rose walnut.
Cryptocarya microneura is a rainforest tree growing at the eastern coastal parts of Australia.
Cryptocarya rigida is a small tree or shrub growing in high rainfall areas in north eastern New South Wales, Australia. It was described in 1864 by Carl Meissner in Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis. Extinct in the Illawarra region, allegedly seen in the Illawarra in 1818 by Allan Cunningham.
Cryptocarya triplinervis is a rainforest tree growing in eastern Australia. Common names include the three veined laurel, three veined cryptocarya and the brown laurel.
Cryptocarya bidwillii, the yellow laurel, is a small to medium-sized tree in the laurel family. Occurring in Australian rainforests from Nymboida in the state of New South Wales to Townsville in tropical Queensland. Often found in the dryer ridges in dry rainforest or in viney scrubs.
C. alba may refer to:
Cryptocarya caesia is a tree in the family Lauraceae reported from Java Island in Indonesia and the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal. This species was originally described by Blume from Java in 1851. Later, in 1884, George King located this tree in Port Blair in the Andaman Islands and collected some herbarium specimens.
Cryptocarya corrugata is a species of tree in the family Lauraceae. Found in tropical rainforest in Queensland in Australia, this species may grow to 35 metres tall. It was collected by William Francis west of Mackay in the Eungella range in 1922. The fruit is eaten by cassowaries and fruit pigeons.
Cryptocarya anamalayana is a rare rainforest tree endemic to the southern Western Ghats, India. The specific epithet of the name refers to the Anamalai Hills, a major area of its distribution. The species considered endangered under the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
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