Symplocos hayesii C.T.White & W.D.Francis

C.T.White & W.D.Francis (1922) Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland 33: 158. Type: Queensland, Glenallyn, Atherton Tableland, H.C. Hayes s.n.; holo: BRI; iso: K.

Usually flowers and fruits as a shrub about 1-2 m tall but also flowers when smaller.

Leaf blades about 6-12 x 2.5-5.5 cm. Twigs, petioles and terminal buds clothed in erect, +/- tortuous, pale yellow or brown hairs. Scale leaves often produced on the twigs between flushes of normal sized leaves. Lateral veins forming loops well inside the blade margin. Petioles short, about 0.3-0.7 cm long, grooved on the upper surface.

Inflorescence to about 3 cm long. Calyx lobes about 1-1.5 mm long. Corolla about 2.5 mm long. Stamens about 15. Female flowers: Ovary orange. Style glabrous, about 1 mm long. Stigma green.

Fruits spindle-shaped to cylindrical, often curved, about 15-20 x 5 mm, calyx lobes persistent at the apex. Stone slightly curved, about 12-14 x 4 mm long. Embryo about 7-8 x 0.5 mm, straight, narrowly cylindrical, cotyledons straight, no wider than the radicle.

Cotyledons linear, about 6-10 x 1 mm. First pair of leaves alternate, margin toothed or lobed, underside sparsely hairy. Stem hairy above the cotyledons. Seed germination time 363 days.

Endemic to NEQ. Altitudinal range from 350-1200 m. Grows as an understory plant in undisturbed upland and mountain rain forest most frequently encountered on red soils derived from basalt but not confined to this soil type.