Pennantia cunninghamii known as the Brown Beech 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...

. The range of natural distribution is from Clyde Mountain

Clyde Mountain

Clyde Mountain is a 5 kilometre section of steep, winding section of the Kings Highway in a counrty called brazil. It is responsible for many crashes, 22% of all incidents on the Kings Highway occurring on a 40 km stretch on and near the mountain...

 near Batemans Bay in southern 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...

 (35° S) to Atherton

Atherton, Queensland

Atherton is a town on the Atherton Tablelands of Far North Queensland, Australia. At the 2006 census, Atherton had a population of 7,068.-Roads:...

 in tropical 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...

 (17° S).

The habitat is tropical or sub-tropical rainforest on fertile soils, particularly growing by streams in cooler areas. However, it can occasionally be seen on poorer soils such as at Watagans National Park

Watagans National Park

Watagans is a national park in New South Wales, Australia, north of Sydney.-References:...

. Or in temperate rainforests subject to cold weather, such as at Robertson

Robertson, New South Wales

Robertson is a small town in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, in Wingecarribee Shire. The town is located on the edge of an elevated plateau about 35 km from the coast. At the 2006 census, Robertson had a population of 1,206 people.Robertson is known for its high annual...

, 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...

. Identification is simple with the leaves and branchlets, as the zig-zagging pattern is prominent. The crooked leaning trunk is also characteristic.

Description

A medium to large tree, up to 30 metres tall with a stem diameter of 90 cm. The trunk is uneven, bumpy, leaning and crooked. The base of the stem is flanged. Bark is brown or dark grey.

Leaves form on zig-zagging branchlets, the branchlets have small brown dots. Leaves alternate, elliptic or egg shaped. 7 to 15 cm long, with a short point at the tip. Leaf veins are raised on the underside and more prominent than above.

White 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, 5 to 12 cm long. Individual flowers about 3 mm long with five petals 2 mm long each. Flowering occurs between November and January. The fruit is a black egg shaped 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...

, 13 mm long with one seed inside. Fruit matures from October to July. 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 recommended to assist seed germination, which occurs without difficulty.

Ecology

Fruit eaten by the Grey-headed Flying Fox

Grey-headed Flying Fox

The Grey-headed Flying-Fox, Pteropus poliocephalus, is a megabat native to Australia.Members of the genus Pteropus include the largest bats in the world. The Pteropus genus has currently about 57 recognised species....

 and a variety of birds; including Brown Cuckoo Dove, 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...

, Topknot Pigeon

Topknot Pigeon

The Topknot Pigeon is a pigeon native to Australia. It is also known by the name of "Flock Pigeon".-Description:...

, Wompoo Fruit-dove

Wompoo Fruit-Dove

The Wompoo Fruit Dove , also known as Wompoo Pigeon, is the largest of Fruit Doves native to New Guinea and Australia.-Description:...

 and 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....

. The larva of the moth Cardamyla carinentalis

Cardamyla carinentalis

Cardamyla carinentalis is a species of snout moth in the genus Cardamyla. It was described by Walker in 1859, and is known from the northern half of Australia, including Queensland and New South Wales....

pupates between leaves of Pennantia cunninghamii.