Jagera pseudorhus, known as the Foambark is a rainforest tree of 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...

. Named for the saponin

Saponin

Saponins are a class of chemical compounds, one of many secondary metabolites found in natural sources, with saponins found in particular abundance in various plant species...

 foam that forms on the bark after heavy rain.

It grows from the Manning River

Manning River

The Manning River is a river in the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia that flows through the Manning Valley. It is one of Australia's few large river systems not to be dammed for water supply purposes anywhere along its catchment...

 (35° S), 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 the Bloomfield River

Bloomfield River

The Bloomfield River is a river situated in Queensland, north of Daintree. The river enters the sea north of Cape Tribulation and is noted for its Bloomfield River cod fish species, found only in the river...

 (15° S) in far north 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...

. The habitat is tropical and sub-tropical rainforests on soils of good fertility. Other common names include Ferntop and Pink Tamarind.

Description

Growing to 30 metres tall, and 50 cm in trunk diameter. Though smaller in cultivation. The bark is smooth and grey with horizontal raised ridges. The base of larger trees are often flanged.

Leaves are alternate and pinnate with eight to twenty six leaflets. The leaflets 4 to 6 cm long. Toothed, not equal at the base, with a pointed tip. Branchlets and the underside of leaves hairy.

Yellow brown 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 in the months of March to May. The fruit forms in August to November. Being a hairy capsule with three cells around 18 mm long. Capsules mature to a brown colour, after being a violet pink. One seed in each cell, being covered in 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...

. Care needs to be taken when handling the capsule, as the hairs may cause skin irritation.

Fruit eaten by the Australian King Parrot

Australian King Parrot

The Australian King Parrot is endemic to eastern Australia. It is found in humid and heavily forested upland regions of the eastern portion of the continent, including eucalyptus wooded areas in and directly adjacent to subtropical and temperate rainforest...

 and the 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...

. Germination from fresh seed is not particularly difficult.

Uses

The beautiful form of this tree makes it well suited as an ornamental. Indigenous Australians

Indigenous Australians

Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....

used the froth from crushed bark as soap and as fish poison.