The Springbrook leatherwood is a rare rainforest tree that can grow up to 25 metres in height. It is often multi-stemmed with lichen covered, semi-smooth pale brown bark. The base of adult trees are typically surrounded by a ring of root suckers (coppice shoots).
Young leaves have 5 to 7 leaflets. Adult leaves have 5 leaflets, which reduce to 3 and then to one during flowering and fruiting. This change of leaf form during flowering and fruiting is a unique characteristic.
The flowers are white to cream, sweetly scented with 4 large petals and occur from February to March. Fruits are small brown woody capsules with multiple segments and small narrowly winged seeds.
The Springbrook leatherwood is only found at 2 isolated sites – on the Springbrook Plateau in the Gold Coast hinterland and northern New South Wales.
One population occurs in a wet gully along a permanent watercourse in warm temperate rainforest, where it forms part of the tall canopy. The other population grows along an exposed, windy, cloud-swept cliff edge where it grows as thickets of multi-stemmed small trees. The species requires permanent water either via a stream, groundwater seepage and/or cloud rain (orographic precipitation).
Image credit: Glenn Leiper