From the Latin pelta (a shield), referring to the peltate leaves.

Jelaton, Stinging Tree.

Tree to 30 m high, dioecious. Leaves usually distinctly peltate; lamina broadly ovate, crenate, acute to shortly acuminate apex, rounded to cordate at base, c. 7–20 cm long, subglabrous above, subglabrous to densely irritant-pubescent beneath; petiole 3–10 cm long; stipules 1–2 cm long. Panicles solitary, 5–15 cm long, lax, puberulous, with scattered stinging hairs; flowers minute, green, shortly pedicellate, in small clusters. Male flowers 4-merous; perianth segments c. 1.5 mm long, subtended by c. 4 slender bracts. Female flowers: perianth segments 4, slender, persistent, two c. 0.75 cm long, one slightly shorter, one c. 0.25 mm long; stigma c. 1.5 mm long, pubescent. Achenes deflexed, subcircular, c. 2 mm long, obliquely beaked, flattened, smooth, with perianth enclosing base.

Native.

Indigenous to Christmas Island, Java, Bali and New Guinea. There are 2 varieties, both of which occur on Christmas Island, 1 being endemic.

The irritant hairs can inflict severe, painful stings.

Chew, W.-L. (1969). A Monograph of Dendrocnide (Urticaceae). Gardens' Bulletin Singapore 25: 1–104.

Du Puy, D.J. & Telford, I.R.H. (1993). Urticaceae, in George, A.S. et al. (eds), Flora of Australia 50: 89–96. (Australian Government Publishing Service: Canberra).

Published 2 November 2020. Adapted from Du Puy & Telford (1993: 93).