Eucryphia jinksii P.I. Forst.

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Sponsor

Kindly sponsored by
William & Griselda Kerr

Credits

Tom Christian (2021)

Recommended citation
Christian, T. (2021), 'Eucryphia jinksii' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/eucryphia/eucryphia-jinksii/). Accessed 2024-03-29.

Common Names

  • Springbrook Leatherwood
  • Jinks's Leatherwood

Glossary

compound
Made up or consisting of two or more similar parts (e.g. a compound leaf is a leaf with several leaflets).
leaflet
Leaf-like segment of a compound leaf.
rachis
Central axis of an inflorescence cone or pinnate leaf.
simple
(of a leaf) Unlobed or undivided.
type specimen
A herbarium specimen cited in a taxonomic account to define a particular species or other taxon.

Credits

Tom Christian (2021)

Recommended citation
Christian, T. (2021), 'Eucryphia jinksii' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/eucryphia/eucryphia-jinksii/). Accessed 2024-03-29.

Tree 25–30 m, to 0.3 m dbh, often multistemmed. Bark pinkish-grey. Young branchlets and buds somewhat sticky; branchlets covered in irregular, long hairs. Leaves simple or compound with 1–3 pairs of lateral leaflets, 2.5–10 × 0.8–2.8 cm, petioles densely hairy, 0.5–1.5 cm; simple leaves particularly frequent on flowering shoots; in compound leaves leaflet length increases from the basal pair toward the terminal leaflet as in E. moorei. Leaflets elliptic-oblong; simple leaves narrowly so, tending toward lanceolate-oblong; apex acute to acuminate; dark glossy green above, glaucous beneath; new growth pink, hairy. Flowers to c. 2.5 cm across, white with pale yellow anthers, styles pale green, peduncles densely hairy, 2–3 mm long. Fruiting caspsule 6–9-locular, woody, 1–1.3 cm long, pale brown. Seeds 4–5 mm long, winged at one end. (Forster & Hyland 1997; Murray 2021).

Distribution  Australia New South Wales, Queensland

Habitat Riparian situations in sheltered gorges within rainforests.

USDA Hardiness Zone 9-10

RHS Hardiness Rating H2

Conservation status Not evaluated (NE)

Eucryphia jinskii was discovered growing in a very restricted, remote area of Springbrook National Park, Queensland, Australia in 1993. The discovery of the Wollemi Pine (Wollemia nobilis) the following year would somewhat overshadow this discovery, which nevertheless significantly improved scientific understanding of Eucryphia biogeogrpahy. E. jinksii was described to science in 1997 along with Eucryphia wilkei from northeastern Queensland; populations of E. wilkei had been known since 1970 but the discovery of another ‘new’ population in Springbrook National Park helped to explain this distribution and provided justification that both populations represented new species (Forster & Hyland 1997).

E. jinksii appears to share several morphological traits with E. moorei to the south and E. wilkei to the north, particularly a preponderance of compound leaves with 1–3 pairs of lateral leaflets that increase in length from the basal pair up the rachis toward the terminal leaflet (see image on New South Wales Flora Online). However, just as with E. wilkei, flowering shoots and shoots in the upper canopy, including the type specimen, seem to have a significant proportion of simple leaves and compound leaves with only a single pair of lateral leaflets subtending the terminal.

This species remains more or less untested in our area: a single plant kept in a conservatory in Northern Ireland is the sole plant outside Australia that we have been able to trace in researching this account (Paterson 2018). E. wilkei is cultivated in very mild gardens in Cornwall and South Devon, UK, and similar conditions, with young plants given additional protection in their first few winters, would seem advisable if ever E. jinksii becomes available for more widespread testing.