Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Homalanthus populifolius

Flowering stems and leaves. Photographer Jackie Miles

Leaves, and stems with flowers and young seed cases. Photographer Jackie Miles

Shrub. Photographer Victor W Fazio III, Cattai Wetlands near Taree

Common name

Bleeding Heart, Native Poplar

Family

Euphorbiaceae

Where found

Forest, common in regrowth, and moist places. Coast and ranges. Eastern edge of the tablelands north from SE of Goulburn.

Notes

Tree or shrub to 12 m high. Seeds with a fleshy aril. Bark at first smooth, often marked by numerous raised blisters. Young stems hairless. Leaves alternating up the stems, 3–20 cm long, 25–120 mm wide, with 1 or 2 glands at the base; both surfaces hairless, lower surface often greyish and glaucous, tips pointed. Leaves sometimes somewhat peltate in saplings. Leaves turn red before falling. Male and female flowers on the same plant. Flowers green or yellowish, with 2 'petals' about 1 mm long. Flowers in many-flowered clusters 2-10 cm long and with many male and few female flowers in the same cluster. Seed cases green to purplish, 2-lobed, 8–10 mm in diameter, smooth, glaucous. Seeds partly to completely covered by a yellowish aril. Fruits Dec.-Mar.

Was Omalanthus populifolius.

Introduced to Vic.

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