Cupaniopsis newmanii is a rainforest

Rainforest

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

 plant in the soapberry

Sapindaceae

Sapindaceae, also known as the soapberry family, is a family of flowering plants in the order Sapindales. There are about 140-150 genera with 1400-2000 species, including maple, horse chestnut and lychee....

 family. It is native to eastern 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 common name is Long-leaved Tuckeroo. A rare plant, with a ROTAP

ROTAP

Rare or Threatened Australian Plants, usually abbreviated to ROTAP, is a list of rare or threatened Australian plant taxa. Developed and maintained by the CSIRO, the most recent edition lists 5031 taxa. The list uses a binary coding system based on the IUCN Red List categories for "Presumed...

 listing of 2RC-. The habitat sub tropical rainforest ranging from Mullumbimby 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 Gympie

Gympie

Gympie may refer to:* Gympie, a city in Queensland, Australia** Gympie Airport** Electoral district of Gympie** Gympie Region, its local government authority* Gympie Gympie , a stinging plant...

 in south-eastern 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...

.

Description

A shrub or small tree to 6 metres tall with a stem diameter of 5 cm. An attractive plant with pinkish red new growth in springtime and colourful fruit in the autumn.

The trunk is crooked, and not buttressed. With dark grey or black bark, marked with vertical lines and cracks. Small branches are relatively thick, shoots and branchlets show rusty brown hairs.

Leaves

Compound leaves are 35 to 45 cm long with 16 to 24 leaflets. Oblong-elliptic or reverse lanceolate in shape. Leaflets 6 to 13 cm long, 2.5 to 5 cm wide, sub opposite or alternate on the stem. Leaflets sharply and prominently toothed. Leaflets asymmetrical at the base. Dark green above, paler underneath. The main leaf stem is 8 to 16 cm long. The leaflet stem 1 to 3 cm long. Smooth but channelled on the upper side.

The leaflet has around 15 pairs of lateral veins, ending in a leaf tooth. Leaf venation is more easily seen under the leaf. The midrib is sunken above the leaf, but raised under the leaf.

Flowers, fruit & regeneration

Pink flowers form on panicle

Panicle

A panicle is a compound raceme, a loose, much-branched indeterminate inflorescence with pedicellate flowers attached along the secondary branches; in other words, a branched cluster of flowers in which the branches are racemes....

s from the leaf axils from July to October. The fruit is an orange red capsule with three lobes, around 2 cm in diameter. Inside the capsule is yellow 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...

surrounding one to three shiny black seeds, 15 to 20 mm long. Fruit matures from October to November. Regeneration from fresh seed is unusually fast, with most seeds germinating after a week or two.