Astrotricha latifolia

Astrotricha latifolia, known as the broad-leaf star-hair, is a species of flowering plant in the Family Araliaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is a large shrub with oblong to egg-shaped or elliptic leaves, and yellowish-green flowers.

Description

Astrotricha latifolia is a large shrub that typically grows to a height of, sometimes to and usually has many erect to spreading branches. Its young branches are covered with loose, fluffy hairs. The leaves are oblong to egg-shaped or elliptic, sometimes shield-shaped, long and wide on a petiole long. The upper surface of the leaves is smooth and green, the lower side sparsely hairy with the network of veins visible underneath. The flowers are borne in a large inflorescence up to long and are greenish-yellow. Flowering occursin October and November and the fruit is not winged.

Taxonomy

Astrotricha latifolia was first formally described in 1837 by George Bentham in Enumeratio plantarum quas in Novae Hollandiae ora austro-occidentali ad fluvium Cygnorum et in sinu Regis Georgii collegit Carolus Liber Baro de Hügel. The specific epithet means 'broad-leaved'.

Distribution and habitat

Broad-leaf star-hair grows in wet forests or the edges of rainforest from sea level to an altitude of in a wide variety of soil types and occurs from about Gympie in south-east Queensland to Narooma in southern coastal New South Wales and west to the Great Dividing Range