''Hedycarya angustifolia'', also known as the native mulberry or Australian mulberry, is a

rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...

plant of south and eastern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Its habitat is cool gullies and moist temperate forests, often at high altitude. Occasionally it is seen bordering sclerophyll forests. The range of natural distribution is from

King Island King Island, Kings Island or King's Island may refer to: Australia * King Island (Queensland) * King Island, at Wellington Point, Queensland * King Island (Tasmania) ** King Island Council, the local government area that contains the Tasmanian is ...

(39° S) in

Bass Strait Bass Strait () is a strait separating the island state of Tasmania from the Australian mainland (more specifically the coast of Victoria, with the exception of the land border across Boundary Islet). The strait provides the most direct waterwa ...

up to the Australian mainland in the state of Victoria, through New South Wales to the Conondale Range (26° S) in the hinterland of the

Sunshine Coast Sunshine Coast may refer to: * Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia **Sunshine Coast Region, a local government area of Queensland named after the region **Sunshine Coast Stadium * Sunshine Coast (British Columbia), geographic subregion of the Br ...

of south east Queensland.

Description

A shrub or small tree, though it occasionally can reach a height of 20 metres and a trunk diameter of 40 cm. The trunk is usually crooked with more than one main stem. The bark is thin; grey or fawn in colour, and is fairly smooth with some vertical lines. Leaves alternate, toothed, ovate to lanceolate with a pointed tip; 8 to 20 cm long. The leaf stalk is 8 to 20 mm long. The midrib is raised below the leaf, but sunken above. The leaf veins are easily noticed. Greenish flowers form on a

raceme A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...

like cyme in the months of August to October. The fruit is a fleshy yellow

drupe In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is an indehiscent fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pit'', ''stone'', or '' pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed (''kernel'') ...

, ripening from December to January.

Uses

Indigenous Australians used the wood for spear tips and to make bow drills.

References

External links

*
(other publication details, included in citation)
* {{Taxonbar, from=Q11682368 Monimiaceae Laurales of Australia Trees of Australia Flora of Tasmania Flora of Victoria (Australia) Flora of New South Wales Flora of Queensland Trees of mild maritime climate