Eucryphia jinksii

Eucryphia jinksii, the Springbrook leatherwood, is a species of rare rainforest trees found in Queensland and New South Wales, Australia, of the plant family Cunoniaceae.

Eucryphia jinksii
Conservation status
Endangered (NCA)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Oxalidales
Family:	Cunoniaceae
Genus:	Eucryphia
Species:	E. jinksii
Binomial name
Eucryphia jinksii P.I.Forst.[1][2]

They grow naturally to 30m tall yet were discovered as a new species only in 1994 by David Jinks.^[1]

Eucryphia jinksii’s endemic, very restricted and threatened distribution has obtained the conservation status of "endangered", officially listed in the regulation current as of 27 September 2013^[update], of the Queensland government legislation, the Nature Conservation Act 1992.^[3]

Distribution and habitat

It is known from a single creek catchment in Warm Temperate Rainforest on the Springbrook Plateau. Another stand has been discovered growing not as trees but as a thicket of multi stemmed shrubs on a wind sheared clifftop also in the Springbrook Area. It grows in New South Wales at Numinbah Nature Reserve,^[4] on the Mount Warning caldera.

Description

E. jinksii trees have pale lichen covered bark typical of many species in the Warm Temperate Rainforests. Often a ring of coppice shoots surrounds the base of an adult tree, coppice and seedling leaves have 5-7 leaflets, while adult leaves have 1–3.

Flowers are cream with four petals and numerous stamens. Beehives near other species of Eucryphia make a famous rich honey known as Leatherwood Honey this species has considerable potential for honey production.

Fruits are small brown capsules with multiple segments and small seeds.