''Dendrocnide photinophylla'', the shining-leaved stinging tree, is a rainforest

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

of eastern Australia. It occurs from near the

Colo River The Colo River, a perennial stream that is part of the Hawkesbury-Nepean catchment, is located in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia. Course The Colo River rises on the Great Dividing Range, northeast of Newnes, formed by the ...

northwest of Sydney to

Cooktown Cooktown is a coastal town and locality in the Shire of Cook, Queensland, Australia. Cooktown is at the mouth of the Endeavour River, on Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland where James Cook beached his ship, the Endeavour, for repai ...

in tropical

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

. A versatile species, it occurs in many different rainforest types. The specific epithet ''photinophylla'' translates to shining leaf. The generic name translates to stinging tree.

Common names

This species is known by many common names, including fibrewood, small-leaved nettle, mulberry-leaved stinging tree, and gympie.

Sting

Stinging trees are often disliked by bush walkers and nature lovers because of the reaction of human skin to their stinging hairs. However, they are an important member of the ecosystems of Australian rainforests. The sting of this plant is not considered as severe as the related ''

Dendrocnide excelsa ''Dendrocnide excelsa'', commonly known as the giant stinging tree or fibrewood, is a rainforest tree in the family ''Urticaceae'' which is endemism , endemic to eastern Australia. It occurs from Tathra, New South Wales to Imbil in southeastern ...

'' or ''

Dendrocnide moroides ''Dendrocnide moroides'', commonly known in Australia as the stinging tree, stinging bush, Queensland Stinger or gympie-gympie, is a plant in the nettle family Urticaceae found in rainforest areas of Malaysia and Australia. It is notorious for it ...

''. However, avoiding the leaves and twigs is strongly recommended.

Description

A medium to large-sized tree up to 30 metres tall, its stem diameter is up to 75 cm. The trunk is flanged or buttressed. The grey bark is fairly smooth, but with some bumps, lines and ridges. Its small branches are smooth and grey, with green at the ends. The leaves are glossy with erect stinging hairs, particularly on the leaf veins, and are elliptic in shape, 6 to 13 cm long, and 3 to 8 cm wide. Male and female flowers sometimes on separate trees, appearing yellowish green from November to June on small panicles from the leaf axils. The fruit are unevenly shaped nuts or achenes, resembling a mass of white grubs; they mature from January to March. The fruit would be edible for humans if not for the stinging hairs; they are eaten by many rainforest birds, including the

regent bowerbird The regent bowerbird (''Sericulus chrysocephalus'') is a medium-sized, up to 25 cm long, sexually dimorphic bowerbird. The male bird is black with a golden orange-yellow crown, mantle and black-tipped wing feathers. It has yellow bill, black ...

and the

Torresian crow The Torresian crow (''Corvus orru''), also called the Australian crow or Papuan crow, is a passerine bird in the crow family native to the north and west of Australia and nearby islands in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. The species has a black ...

Uses

Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

used the fibres to make nets and bags.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5256740 photinophylla Flora of New South Wales Flora of Queensland Rosales of Australia Trees of Australia Bushfood