{{Short description|Genus of flowering plants}} {{automatic taxobox |image = Cryptocarya.PNG |image_caption = ''Cryptocarya alba'' |taxon = Cryptocarya |authority = R.Br.<ref name="POWO">{{cite web |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:330812-2 |title=''Cryptocarya'' R.Br. |website=Plants of the World Online |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |year=2023 |access-date=18 October 2023}}</ref> |subdivision_ranks = Species |subdivision = Over 360; See List of ''Cryptocarya'' species |synonyms = *''Agathophyllum'' {{small|Juss.}} *''Caryodaphne'' {{small|Blume ex Nees}} *''Dahlgrenodendron'' {{small|J.J.M.van der Merwe & A.E.van Wyk}} *''Evodia'' {{small|Gaertn.}} *''Icosandra'' {{small|Phil.}} *''Kerrdora'' {{small|Gagnep.}} *''Massoia'' {{small|Becc.}} *''Pseudocryptocarya'' {{small|Teschner}} *''Ravensara'' {{small|Sonn.}} *''Salgada'' {{small|Blanco}} |synonyms_ref = {{R|POWO}} }} [[File:Cryptocarya mackinnoniana ALA3.jpg|thumb|''Cryptocarya mackinnoniana'']]
'''''Cryptocarya''''' is a genus of about 360 species<ref name="POWO" /> of flowering plants in the laurel family, Lauraceae. Most species are trees, occasionally shrubs, distributed through the Neotropical, Afrotropical, Indomalayan, and Australasian realms. Most plants in the genus ''Cryptocarya'' have leaves arranged alternately along the stems, small flowers with 6 tepals, stamens in 2 rows, the inner row alternating with staminodes, and the fruit is a drupe.
==Description== Plants in the genus ''Cryptocarya'' are trees, occasionally shrubs, the leaves usually arranged alternately along the branches. The leaves are petiolate and pinnately-veined. The flowers are arranged in cymes, racemes or panicles in leaf axils usually at the ends of branches and often appearing as if on the ends of the branches. The flowers have both male and female parts, with 6 tepals usually erect as the flower opens, and 9 stamens in 2 rows, the inner row of 3 alternating with staminodes. The ovary is sessile, usually with an inconspicuous stigma and the fruit is an elliptic to spherical, fleshy drupe, containing a single seed.<ref name="FoA">{{cite web |last1=Le Cussan |first1=J. |last2=Hyland |first2=Bernard P.M. |title=''Cryptocarya'' |url=https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Cryptocarya |publisher=Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water: Canberra |access-date=4 June 2024}}</ref><ref name="RBGS">{{cite web |last1=Harden |first1=Gwen J. |title=''Cryptocarya'' |url=https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&showsyn=&dist=&constat=&lvl=gn&name=Cryptocarya |publisher=Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney |access-date=4 June 2024}}</ref><ref name="NT">{{cite web |title=''Cryptocarya'' |url=https://eflora.nt.gov.au/factsheetGenus?id=2893 |publisher=Northern Territory Government |access-date=4 June 2024}}</ref>
==Taxonomy== The genus ''Cryptocarya'' was first formally described in 1810 by Robert Brown in his ''Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen''.{{R|POWO}}<ref name="R.Br.">{{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Robert |title=Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen |date=1810 |location=London |page=402 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/21871#page/270/mode/1up |access-date=4 June 2024}}</ref> The genus name ''Cryptocarya'' means 'hidden nut', referring to the fruit that is hidden by the tepals.<ref name="ASG">{{cite book |last1=George |first1=Alex |last2=Sharr |first2=Francis |title=Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings |date=2021 |publisher=Four Gables Press |location=Kardinya, WA |isbn=9780958034180 |page=72 |edition=4th}}</ref>
In a recent generic classification of Lauraceae based on DNA sequence, ''Cryptocarya'' was found to be part of a strongly supported clade that also includes ''Beilschmiedia, Potameia,'' and ''Endiandra''.<ref name="Adansonia">{{cite journal |last1=Van Der Werff |first1=Henk |title=A Revision of the Malagasy endemic genus ''Aspidostemon'' Rohwer & Richter (Lauraceae |journal=Adansonia |date=2006 |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=7–38 |url=http://www.mnhn.fr/museum/front/medias/publication/8185_a06n1a1.pdf |accessdate=2011-11-06 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110808034921/http://www.mnhn.fr/museum/front/medias/publication/8185_a06n1a1.pdf |archivedate=2011-08-08 }}</ref>
===Species list=== See List of ''Cryptocarya'' species.
==Distribution== Species of ''Cryptocarya'' are found in some parts of South America, southern Africa, Madagascar, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Japan, New Guinea and Australia.<ref name="POWO" />
==Uses== The leaves of ''C. woodii'' have been found in prehistoric settlements in Africa and are believed to have been used for insect control.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Wadley L, Sievers C, Bamford M, Goldberg P, Berna F, Miller C |title=Middle Stone Age bedding construction and settlement patterns at Sibudu, South Africa |journal=Science |volume=334 |issue=6061 |pages=1388–91 |year=2011 |pmid=22158814 |doi=10.1126/science.1213317 |bibcode=2011Sci...334.1388W |s2cid=11063722 }}</ref>
Essential oil is commercially harvested from ''Cryptocarya agathophylla'' (formerly ''Ravensara aromatica''), a tree native to the lowland rainforests of eastern Madagascar. Known as ravensara oil, it is used for aromatherapy in Europe and America.<ref>Hanitriniaina Sahondra Andrianoelisoa, Chantal Menut, Panja Ramanoelina, Falihery Raobelison, Philippe Collas de Chatelperron, & Pascal Danthu (2010). "Chemical Composition of Essential Oils From Bark and Leaves of Individual Trees of Ravensara aromatica Sonnerat", ''Journal of Essential Oil Research'', 22:1, 66-70, DOI: 10.1080/10412905.2010.9700267</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * Pictures of [http://www.chilebosque.cl/tree/calba.html ''Cryptocarya alba'' or Peumo] in Chile. *{{cite web |title=''Cryptocarya'' R.Br. |work=Atlas of Living Australia |url=https://bie.ala.org.au/species/http://id.biodiversity.org.au/node/apni/7479815}}
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Category:Cryptocarya Category:Lauraceae genera Category:Taxa named by Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773)