Western Rosewood, Boonaree, Dogwood, Bullock Bush, Cattle-bush.

Small tree to 7 m high; young parts densely silky or puberulent; branchlets, leaves and inflorescence pubescent or glabrescent with white appressed hairs. Leaves: lamina linear or narrowly elliptic or obovate, acute, acuminate, obtuse or truncate, entire, acute at base, 3–16.5 cm long, 0.3–2.3 cm wide; petiole 5–10 mm long. Inflorescence raceme-like or panicle-like to 9 cm long; pedicels 1.5–10 mm long. Calyx finely 5–10-toothed or truncate, 2.5–5 mm wide, silky or glabrous. Stamens 8–12; filaments 1.5–4 mm long. Fruit obcordate, 2-lobed, rarely 1-lobed, 8 mm long, 8–12 mm diam.; pericarp thin, crustaceous.

Alectryon oleifolius is distinguished by its usually long and narrow entire leaves and fairly large inflorescence.

Native.

A widespread species in semi-arid areas of all States except Tasmania.

Very variable, with three fairly distinct varieties, the extreme forms intergrading.

J.G. West, Flora of Central Australia: 200, fig. 231C (1981), as Heterodendrum oleaefolium; J.G. West, Flora of South Australia 4th edn, 2: 795, fig. 421B–D (1986), as Heterodendrum oleaefolium; I.R. McCann, The Mallee in Flower: 105 (1989), as Heterodendrum oleifolium; K.A.W. Wilson, Native Plants of Queensland 4: 46–47 (1999).

Cooper, W. & Cooper, W.T. (2004). Fruits of the Australian Tropical Rainforest. (Nokomis Editions: Melbourne).

Harden, G.J. et al. (2002). Sapindaceae, in Harden, G.J. (ed.), Flora of New South Wales revised edn, 2: 336–360. (University of New South Wales Press: Sydney); except Dodonaea by Wilson, P.G. & Scott, J.A., pp. 352–360.

Reynolds, S.T. (1982). Notes on Sapindaceae in Australia, II. Austrobaileya 1(5): 472–496, as Heterodendrum oleifolium.

Reynolds, S.T. (1985). Heterodendrum, in George, A.S. (ed.), Flora of Australia 25: 20–24. (Australian Government Publishing Service: Canberra), as Heterodendrum oleifolium.

Reynolds, S.T. (1987). Notes on Sapindaceae, V. Austrobaileya 2(4): 328–338.

West, J.G. (1981). Sapindaceae, in J.P. Jessop (ed.), Flora of Central Australia, pp. 198–202. (Reed: Frenchs Forest, Sydney), as Heterodendrum oleaefolium.

West, J.G. (1986). Sapindaceae, in Jessop, J.P. & Toelken, H.R. (eds), Flora of South Australia 4th edn, 2: 794–801. (South Australian Government Printing Division: Adelaide), as Heterodendrum oleifolium.

Data derived from Flora of Australia Volume 25 (1985), a product of ABRS, ©Commonwealth of Australia.