Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Helicia glabriflora

Flowering stems. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, garden at Coffs Harbour

Leafy stems. Photographer Peter Woodard, Coffs Harbour Botanic Gardens

Common name

Smooth Helicia, Pale Helicia, Pale Oak, Leather Oak, Brown Oak

Family

Proteaceae

Where found

Rainforest and near streams. Coast and ranges north from near Kiama.

Notes

Shrub or tree to 15 m high. Fruit fleshy. Bark grey or brown, smooth or finely wrinkled, with small warts and horizontal ridges. Young branchlets sparsely rusty-hairy, becoming hairless with age. Leaves alternating up the stems, 5–15 cm long, 15–45 mm wide, leathery, hairless, glossy, margins entire or with a few irregular teeth towards the tips, tips pointed. Flowers white or cream to pink, 8–13 mm long, tubular, with 4 'petals'. Flowers in elongated clusters 4–10 cm long. Fruit dark blue, oval, about 12 mm in diameter, hairless, ripe June-Nov.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Helicia~glabriflora  (accessed 19 January, 2021)