Sloanea australis, commonly known as the maiden's blush, is a rainforest tree of eastern Australia. The range of natural distribution is from near Batemans Bay (35° S) in southern New South Wales to Cape Tribulation (16° S) in tropical Queensland. The habitat of Sloanea australis is various types of rainforest; such as littoral, warm temperate, montane rainforest, sub tropical, and tropical rainforests. Often growing in particularly moist areas, such as next to streams.
| Sloanea australis | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Juvenile maiden's blush growing by the Hacking River, Australia. | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Oxalidales |
| Family: | Elaeocarpaceae |
| Genus: | Sloanea |
| Species: | S. australis |
| Binomial name | |
| Sloanea australis | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
The common name refers to the "blushing" pink colour of the heartwood, resembling a maiden's blush. This common name is also suited to the colour of the new leaves. Other common names include the blush alder, blush carrabeen, blush carrobean and cudgerie.[citation needed] Sloanea australis has bright pink new leaves which make identification easy. The irregular, crooked leaning trunk is also characteristic.
Description
A medium to large tree, up to 30 metres (98 ft) tall with a stem diameter of 60 cm (24 in) with grey-brown bark. The trunk is buttressed, crooked, flanged and irregular with smaller branchlets coming from the main trunk. Alexander Floyd mentions a 55-metre (180 ft) tall individual at Border Ranges National Park.[1]
Leaves alternate with wavy margins, toothed and obovate, 7 to 30 cm (2.8 to 11.8 in) long, some with a shortly blunted tip. Leaf stalks are 6 to 25 mm (0.24 to 0.98 in) long, with a bend at the junction of the leaf blade. Venation is prominent on both sides of the leaf.
Cream flowers form from October to November, in singles or on short racemes. A woody capsule matures from February to June, 15 to 20 mm (0.59 to 0.79 in) long. Inside is a fleshy orange aril, surrounding the three to five glossy black seeds. Fruit is eaten by a variety of rainforest birds including the paradise riflebird.
Germination from fresh seeds is not particularly difficult, woody branches and cuttings also strike well.
References
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