Ceratopetalum apetalum
Cunoniaceae
Common
This handsome tree is distinguished by its smooth, light grey-white bark, with low ridges running around the trunk; the bases of the trunks of large trees may be rough.
The opposite leaves are 6‒14 cm long, with up to 40 small teeth along each edge. The leaf stalk is swollen where it joins the leaf base and there is a scar across the stem between each pair of leaves.
Flowers are without petals. The five petal-like sepals gradually change from white to pink, then brown and hard as the fruit ripens. The canopy of some rainforest patches turns reddish with flowering trees in January and February of most years.
Coachwood is a close relative of the NSW Christmas Bush Ceratopetalum gummiferum.
DISTRIBUTION:
East GippsIand, VIC to Kroombit Tops, central QLD
common
