Trochocarpa laurina is an Australian shrub or small tree. It occurs from near Bermagui (36° S) in southern coastal New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

 to the Wet Tropics in Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

. It grows at the summit of Mount Bellenden Ker

Mount Bellenden Ker

Mount Bellenden Ker is the second highest mountain in Queensland, Australia. It is named after the botanist John Bellenden Ker Gawler. Located 60 km south of Cairns near Babinda, it is adjacent to Mount Bartle Frere, the state's highest peak, part of the Bellenden Ker Range which is also...

, which has an average annual rainfall of 8312 mm. The minimum annual rainfall requirement is 1200 mm..

The habitat is rainforest

Rainforest

Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...

 of various types and wet sclerophyll forest. The largest known example is 13 metres tall, occurring in the Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

 suburb of Eastwood

Eastwood, New South Wales

Eastwood is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Eastwood is located 17 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government areas of the City of Ryde and the City of Parramatta...

 . Common names include Tree Heath, Axebreaker, Sandberry, Wheel-fruit, Waddy Wood, Laurel Heath and Turkey Bush.

Description

A small tree or shrub with a corky trunk, and heavy low branches. The crooked trunk can be up to 45 cm in diameter, slightly flanged at the base. Often seen around 4 metres tall.

Leaves alternate, grouped at the ends of the branchlets. Not toothed, elliptic, 5 to 7 cm long, pointed at the tip. Glossy green both sides, paler beneath. Five to seven parallel and longitudinal veins on the leaf. New leaves brilliant dark pink or red.

White flowers single or on spikes, 2 to 3 cm long form in all months, mostly seen in June and July. The fruit is a small flattened drupe

Drupe

In botany, a drupe is a fruit in which an outer fleshy part surrounds a shell of hardened endocarp with a seed inside. These fruits develop from a single carpel, and mostly from flowers with superior ovaries...

; purple to black in colour, maturing from March to October. Within the aril

Aril

An aril is any specialized outgrowth from the funiculus that covers or is attached to the seed. It is sometimes applied to any appendage or thickening of the seed coat in flowering plants, such as the edible parts of the mangosteen and pomegranate fruit, the mace of the nutmeg seed, or the...

 of the drupe

Drupe

In botany, a drupe is a fruit in which an outer fleshy part surrounds a shell of hardened endocarp with a seed inside. These fruits develop from a single carpel, and mostly from flowers with superior ovaries...

 is a ten ribbed bony endocarp, each of the ten cells within contains a seed. Seed germination is very slow and difficult, taking between two and four years for the first seedling to appear. Fruit eaten by Lewin's Honeyeater

Lewin's Honeyeater

The Lewin's Honeyeater, Meliphaga lewinii, is a bird that inhabits the ranges along the east coast of Australia. It has a semicircular ear patch, pale yellow in colour.The name of this bird commemorates the Australian artist John Lewin....

 and the Pied Currawong

Pied Currawong

The Pied Currawong is a medium-sized black passerine bird native to eastern Australia and Lord Howe Island. One of three currawong species in the genus Strepera, it is closely related to the butcherbirds and Australian Magpie of the family Artamidae. Six subspecies are recognised...

.

Ecology & Uses

Host to the parasitic plant Korthasella rubra. Host tree for epiphytes including Bird's-nest fern and Elk Horn Fern

Platycerium

Platycerium is a genus of about 18 fern species in the polypod family, Polypodiaceae. Ferns in this genus are widely known as staghorn or elkhorn ferns due to their uniquely-shaped fronds...

. Used by Aboriginal Australians for waddies

Waddy

A Waddy, nulla nulla or hunting stick is an Australian Aboriginal war club. The former name comes from the Dharuk Aborigines of Port Jackson, Sydney....

. Timber is hard with an attractive grain.