Myrtle Beech
Nothofagus cunninghamii
Myrtle beech is a large, spreading evergreen tree up to 40 m tall with a stem diameter
between 150 and 250 cm in favourable environments, but is often a dense understorey
shrub 6–18 m high in wet eucalypt forest and at higher altitudes. The trunk is slightly
buttressed, fluted and often swollen at the base, with adventitious shoots. The outer
bark is brown or deep red to pink, scaly and slightly fibrous and remains attached to
the tree for life.
Myrtle beech has attractive fans of lacy foliage, with new growth that flushes rose
pink to orange-bronze in spring. The leaves are glossy and smooth on both sides, dark
green above but paler beneath, toothed, rounded at the tip and a broad wedge-shape to
triangular at the base, with a prominent midrib and indistinct veins. The leaves have
smallish (6–20 mm) but obvious glandular dots. The leaves are attached to thin
branchlets by short (1 mm long) leaf stalks and alternate along the branchlets in two
ranks (6 to 10 per side). The branchlets are covered in dense, short, rusty hairs.
The flowers are greenish, with separate male and female flowers, on or near the ends
of the branches. The female flowers are located above the male flowers. The male
flowers form catkins (a drooping spike of flowers with no petals) that arise from the
leaf–stem junction. Each catkin is comprised of 1–4 flowers that appear to have no
petals
between 150 and 250 cm in favourable environments, but is often a dense understorey
shrub 6–18 m high in wet eucalypt forest and at higher altitudes. The trunk is slightly
buttressed, fluted and often swollen at the base, with adventitious shoots. The outer
bark is brown or deep red to pink, scaly and slightly fibrous and remains attached to
the tree for life.
Myrtle beech has attractive fans of lacy foliage, with new growth that flushes rose
pink to orange-bronze in spring. The leaves are glossy and smooth on both sides, dark
green above but paler beneath, toothed, rounded at the tip and a broad wedge-shape to
triangular at the base, with a prominent midrib and indistinct veins. The leaves have
smallish (6–20 mm) but obvious glandular dots. The leaves are attached to thin
branchlets by short (1 mm long) leaf stalks and alternate along the branchlets in two
ranks (6 to 10 per side). The branchlets are covered in dense, short, rusty hairs.
The flowers are greenish, with separate male and female flowers, on or near the ends
of the branches. The female flowers are located above the male flowers. The male
flowers form catkins (a drooping spike of flowers with no petals) that arise from the
leaf–stem junction. Each catkin is comprised of 1–4 flowers that appear to have no
petals