Cinnamomum oliveri is a rainforest

Rainforest

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

 tree growing at the eastern coastal parts of Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. It grows from the Illawarra

Illawarra

Illawarra is a region in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is a coastal region situated immediately south of Sydney and north of the Shoalhaven or South Coast region. It encompasses the cities of Wollongong, Shellharbour, Shoalhaven and the town of Kiama. The central region contains Lake...

 district (34° S) in 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 Cape York Peninsula

Cape York Peninsula

Cape York Peninsula is a large remote peninsula located in Far North Queensland at the tip of the state of Queensland, Australia, the largest unspoilt wilderness in northern Australia and one of the last remaining wilderness areas on Earth...

 at the northern tip of Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. The southern most limit of natural distribution is on the volcanic cliffs above the town of Gerroa and nearby on the sand in rainforest behind Seven Mile Beach, New South Wales

Seven Mile Beach, New South Wales

thumb|300px|Seven Mile Beach at sunsetSeven Mile Beach is a long beach with strong historical reference just south of Gerringong in the Shoalhaven area of New South Wales, Australia....

.

Cinnamomum oliveri, has several common names, such as the Camphorwood, Oliver's Sassafras, Black Sassafras and Cinnamonwood. It is a medium to large tree to around 30 metres tall and 75 cm in diameter.

Habitat

Common in warm temperate rainforest areas on sedimentary soils in cool mountain situations. But also seen in subtropical rainforest.

Trunk, bark and leaves

The trunk is cylindrical or occasionally flanged. Grey or brown bark with a corky layer. The trunk has vertical lines of corky pustules.

Leaves are opposite, simple, entire wavy margins, smooth, lanceolate, pointed, gradually tapering to the base. 8 to 15 cm long, 2 to 4 cm broad. Shiny green above, bluish grey glaucous

Glaucous

Glaucous is used to describe the pale grey or bluish-green appearance of the surfaces of some plants, as well as in the names of birds, such as the Glaucous Gull , Glaucous-winged Gull , Glaucous Macaw , and Glaucous...

 below. Leaf stalk 6 to 12 mm long. Leaf venation is distinct on both surfaces. The midrib is raised on both surfaces.

Flowers, fruit and germination

Flowers appear from October to November. Cream, fragrant, in panicles at the ends of branchlets or in the forks of leaves near the ends of the branchlets. The fruit is a blue-black or black oval, shiny, aromatic 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...

. Often with gall

Gall

Galls or cecidia are outgrowths on the surface of lifeforms caused by invasion by other lifeforms, such as parasites or bacterial infection. Plant galls are abnormal outgrowths of plant tissues and can be caused by various parasites, from fungi and bacteria, to insects and mites...

s. About 12 mm long. Fruit ripe February to April. Fruiting occurs roughly every seven years, and is prolific.

Fruit is eaten by rainforest birds including the White-headed Pigeon

White-headed Pigeon

The White-headed Pigeon is a pigeon native to the east coast of Australia, belonging to the same genus as the domestic pigeon C. livia....

, 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...

 and Green Catbird

Green Catbird

The Green Catbird, Ailuroedus crassirostris is a species of bowerbird found on subtropical forests along the east coast of Australia, from southeastern Queensland to southern New South Wales. Its colouring is emerald green, with faint black markings on the face and white streaks on the neck.Green...

. Like most Australian laurel

Lauraceae

The Lauraceae or Laurel family comprises a group of flowering plants included in the order Laurales. The family contains about 55 genera and over 3500, perhaps as many as 4000, species world-wide, mostly from warm or tropical regions, especially Southeast Asia and South America...

 fruit, removal of the fleshy 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...

 is advised to assist seed germination. The seed has short longevity due to deterioration on drying.

Uses

The bark of Cinnamomum oliveri contains tannin

Tannin

A tannin is an astringent, bitter plant polyphenolic compound that binds to and precipitates proteins and various other organic compounds including amino acids and alkaloids.The term tannin refers to the use of...

, also an essential oil

Essential oil

An essential oil is a concentrated hydrophobic liquid containing volatile aroma compounds from plants. Essential oils are also known as volatile oils, ethereal oils or aetherolea, or simply as the "oil of" the plant from which they were extracted, such as oil of clove...

, rich in camphor

Camphor

Camphor is a waxy, white or transparent solid with a strong, aromatic odor. It is a terpenoid with the chemical formula C10H16O. It is found in wood of the camphor laurel , a large evergreen tree found in Asia and also of Dryobalanops aromatica, a giant of the Bornean forests...

, safrole

Safrole

Safrole, also known as shikimol, is a phenylpropene. It is a colorless or slightly yellow oily liquid. It is typically extracted from the root-bark or the fruit of sassafras plants in the form of sassafras oil , or synthesized from other related methylenedioxy...

 and methyleugenol or cinnamic aldehyde and eugenol

Eugenol

Eugenol is a phenylpropene, an allyl chain-substituted guaiacol. Eugenol is a member of the phenylpropanoids class of chemical compounds. It is a clear to pale yellow oily liquid extracted from certain essential oils especially from clove oil, nutmeg, cinnamon, basil and bay leaf. It is slightly...

depending on the chemical variety of the species. The oil may be used for medicinal purposes. The fragrant timber is used for indoor work, lining and cabinet work. Weight 560 to 660 kilograms per cubic metre.