Common name: Smooth or Pale Helicia, Pale Oak, Leather Oak, Brown Oak
Helicia glabriflora F.Muell. APNI*
Description: Shrub or small tree to 10 m high; young branchlets sparsely rusty-hairy, glabrescent with age.
Leaves oblanceolate to obovate or elliptic 5–15 cm long, 1.5–4 cm wide, apex ± acute to bluntly acuminate, base ± attenuate, margins entire or with a few irregular teeth towards apex, leathery, glabrous, secondary veins 8–12 pairs, raised and prominent below; petiole 1–3 mm long, often reduced to a pulvinus.
Conflorescences usually axillary, rachis 4–10 cm long; peduncle 5–15 mm long; pedicels 1–3 mm long. Perianth 8–12 mm long, cream to pink, glabrous.
Fruit ovoid, c. 12 mm diam., glabrous, dark blue; ripe June-Nov.
Distribution and occurrence: in riverine and littoral rainforest and to a lesser extent warm-temperate rainforest; widely distributed on the coast and nearby ranges north from the Illawarra region.
NSW subdivisions: NC, CC, CT
Other Australian states: Qld
Text by G. J. Harden
Taxon concept: D.B. Foreman (1995)
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data
***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.