Citronella moorei 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 in 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...

. Common names for this species include Churnwood, Citronella, Soapy Box, Silky Beech, and Corduroy.

Description

Citronella moorei is a large tree attaining a height of 50 metres and a diameter of 2 metres. The crown is dark green and dense. Easily identified in the rainforest by the extraordinary twisting and crooked trunk.

Bark, trunk & leaves

The bark is fawn or greyish, fissured and corky. The trunk is prominently and irregularly channelled, twisting or fluted. The trunk is rarely round except in very young trees. Often the trunk is leaning and crooked.

Branchlets moderately slender, green and smooth. Young shoots finely downy. Leaves are alternate and simple. 5 to 10 cm long, 4 to 6 cm broad. Leaves are not wavy edged, and drawn out to a blunt point.

Venation is prominent on both surfaces. Midrib and four to six lateral veins raised, conspicuous and paler beneath.

Flowers, fruit & germination

Flowering period May to September. Creamy green flowers in narrow panicles.

The fruit is a black 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...

, about 2 cm long. The outer part moist and fleshy, the inner part hard. Fruit ripe December to June. Eaten by 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:...

 and Wompoo Fruit Dove.

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. Germination of sown fresh seed is slow, beginning after about six months and being complete after 8 to 14 months yielding a 100% success rate.

Distribution and habitat

Growing on volcanic soils or rich alluvial soils in tropical, sub tropical and warm temperate rainforests. Common in sheltered valleys and slopes. It is found from the Clyde River, New South Wales  (35° S) to Mossman, Queensland

Mossman, Queensland

For the collection of Horsedrawn Carriages see Mossman CollectionMossman is a town in Far North Queensland, Australia, on the Mossman River...

(16° S) in the tropics.

Timber & Uses

Pale grey timber, close grained with conspicuous rays. Sapwood is susceptible to borers.