85 
No. 55. 
Heterodendron olecefolium, Desf. 
The Western Rosewood. 
(Natural Order SAPINDACE^E) 
Botanical description. —Genus Heterodendron , Desf. 
Flowers .—Regular, usually hermaphrodite. 
Calyx. —Broadly cup-shaped, very shortly and irregularly toothed. 
Petals .—None. 
Disk. —Small. 
Stamens.— 6 to 15, inserted within or upon the disc ; anthers nearly sessile, longer than the 
calyx. 
Ovary. —2- to 4-lobed, 2- to 4-celled, with 1 ovule in each cell ; style short, with an obtuse lobed 
stigma. 
Fruit. —Of 1 or 2, rarely 3 or 4, coriaceous or hard lobes, indehiscent. 
Seed .—-Half-immersed in an arillus ; testa crustaceous ; cotyledons thick, flexuose. 
Shrubs or small trees. 
Leaves.— Simple, entire or lobed. 
Flowers .—Small, in short terminal, slightly-branched panicles, often reduced to simple racemes. 
Botanical description. —Species, H. olecefolium, Desf. in Mem. Mus. Par. iv, 
8, t. 3. 
A tall shrub or small tree, the young shoots hoary or glaucous with a minute silky pubescence. 
Leaves .—Linear, lanceolate or narrow oblong, rarely almost obovate, acute or obtuse, 2 to 4 
inches long, quite entire, narrowed into a very short petiole, coriaceous, and sometimes very 
rigid. 
Panicles. —Usually few flowered and much shorter than the leaves. 
Calyx .—Broadly cup-shaped, varying from 1^ to nearly 3 lines diameter. 
Ovary .—Usually 3- or 4-celled, densely tomentose. 
Fruit .—Of 1, 2, or very rarely 3 or 4, nearly globular lobes, 3 or 4 lines diameter. — (DC. 
Prod, ii, 92 ; F.*. Muell. PI. Viet, i, 90). The Queensland specimens have smaller and 
more glabrous flowers than the more southern ones, with the ovary 2-carpellary. The north 
western and some of the western ones have much broader leaves and more abundant flowers 
than the eastern.—(B.F1. i, 469.) 
Botanical Name. — Heterodendron. Greek, heteros, variable, and dendron , 
tree, probably in allusion to the foliage ; olecefolium, Latin olea, an olive-tree, 
folium , a leaf, some leaves reminding one somewhat of an olive leaf. 
