Rhodamnia argentea 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 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...

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Common names include Malletwood, White Myrtle, Silver Leaf, Silver Malletwood and White Turpentine. The natural habitat is a variety of different rainforests, at sea level or in the adjacent ranges

Great Dividing Range

The Great Dividing Range, or the Eastern Highlands, is Australia's most substantial mountain range and the third longest in the world. The range stretches more than 3,500 km from Dauan Island off the northeastern tip of Queensland, running the entire length of the eastern coastline through...

. Growing on sand, alluvium and volcanic based soils. From the Hastings River

Hastings River

The Hastings River is a large river on the Mid North Coast of the Australian state of New South Wales that empties into the Tasman Sea, a branch of the South Pacific Ocean, at Port Macquarie....

, 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 Bowen, Queensland

Bowen, Queensland

Bowen is a town on the eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. At the 2006 census, Bowen had a population of 7,484.-Geography:Bowen is located on the north-east coast of Australia, at exactly twenty degrees south of the equator. In fact, the twentieth parallel crosses the main street...

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Description

A mid sized tree up to 30 metres in height and a stem diameter of 85 cm. The trunk can be straight and tall, somewhat fluted or buttressed at the base. Papery brown or grey bark, with vertical cracks and fissures on larger trees. Small branches are brown, though at the end they become white or silvery, as do new shoots.

Leaves can be ovate, lanceolate, elliptic or oval in shape. 4 to 13 cm long, 2.5 to 6 cm wide. Oil dots not or seldom visible. Leaves three veined in appearance. The leaf base is triangular in shape. Leaves silvery white underneath.

Flowers & fruit

White flowers form in cymes appearing from leaf axils in November and December. The cyme is on a stalk up to 13 mm long, and usually produces three small flowers. The fruit is round black berry, 10 mm in diameter. Inside are one or more yellow seeds. Fruit matures from March to June.

The fruit is eaten by various birds, including 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...

, Lewin's Honeyeater

Lewin's Honeyeater

The Lewin's Honeyeater, Meliphaga lewinii, is a bird that inhabits the ranges along the east coast of Australia. It has a semicircular ear patch, pale yellow in colour.The name of this bird commemorates the Australian artist John Lewin....

 and Regent Bowerbird

Regent Bowerbird

The Regent Bowerbird, Sericulus chrysocephalus is a medium-sized, up to 25 cm long, sexually dimorphic bowerbird. The male bird is black with a golden orange-yellow crown, mantle and black-tipped wing feathers. It has yellow bill, black feet and yellow iris...

. Removing the seed from 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 germination. Germination from seed is slow, and cuttings have proven unreliable.