nightcap oak  |  

The species is restricted to a single population on the southern side of Nightcap Range, north of Lismore. Fossil fruits very similar to those of living Eidothea are known from rocks that are 15-20 million years old in the Victorian goldfields near Ballarat. This suggests that the Nightcap Oak is a highly significant evolutionary relict of a time when rainforests covered vast areas of Australia. The species occurs in upland warm temperate rainforest, usually near creeks, in an area of high annual rainfall. Fruit takes more than a year to develop. Ripe fruit is gathered by small mammals), which collect them and gnaw through the fruit wall to eat the seed.