Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Dendrocnide excelsa

Fleshy stalks on 'seeds'; and leaves. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, Bunya Mountain National Park, Qld.

Insect chewed leaf. Photographer Peter Woodard, Gumbaynggir National Park, west of Nambucca Heads

Lower trunk. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, Tooloom National Park NSW, SW of Warwick, Qld

Tree. Photographer Craig Hodges, Bellbird Nature Refuge, NE of Killarney, Qld

Common name

Giant stinging tree

Family

Urticaceae

Where found

Forest, particularly following disturbance, and gullies. Coast, ranges, and the eastern edge of the tablelands, north from Merimbula and Bombala.

Notes

Tree to 40 m tall. Stinging hairs cause an intense persistent sting. Stalks of individual 'seeds' very fleshy. Trunks of larger trees fluted and buttressed. Bark smooth, pale brown to grey. Stems densely hairy with simple and stinging hairs. Leaves alternating up the stems, usually 10–25 cm long, 70–200 mm wide, deeply cordate at the base, often with the two lobes overlapping, margins toothed to almost entire, tips pointed, surfaces sparsely to densely covered with stinging hairs, especially the larger juvenile leaves. Male and female flowers on different plants, greenish white, small. Male flowers with 4 or 5 'petals', female flowers with 4 'petals'. Flowers in branched clusters to 12 cm long. Fleshy stalks on 'seeds' white to pink or purplish, to 5 mm long.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Dendrocnide~excelsa (accessed 9 January, 2021)