Brush wilga
Geijera salicifolia, Fam. Rutaceae
Small to medium tree often with a dense, bushy crown and dark red brown scaly bark, shed in small squares.
| Weed Category: | |
| Weed: | No |
| Form or habit: | Small tree, Med tree |
| Family: | Rutaceae |
| Leaf: | One foliate, alternate, entire, narrowly to broadly elliptic or ovate lanceolate, 5-15cm long, variable width. Soft to firm and often somewhat leathery, smooth, glossy green with lateral veins, 10-18 pairs, slightly raised both surfaces, numerous oil dots. Petiole has narrow, incurved margins. Lavender scented when crushed. |
| Flower conspicuous: | Conspicuous |
| Flower colour: |
White |
| Flower description: | Short panicles of white flowers. Mostly spring and summer. |
| Fruit conspicuous: | Conspicuous |
| Fruit colour: |
Brown |
| Fruit: | |
| Fruit description: | Dry, brown with one to four, two-valved segments each containing one glossy black seed. |
| Habitat: | Rainforest |
| Distribution | Queensland, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Western Australia, New Guinea, Melanesia. |
| Food source for: | Seed and/or fruit eaten by the Australian brush turkey, brown cuckoo-dove, Australian king parrot, black faced cuckoo-shrike, silvereye and Lewin's honeyeater. Larval food plant of the blue triangle, Macleay's swallowtail, orchard swallowtail and Ulysses swallowtail butterflies and the moth Syntherata janetta. |
| Toxicity: | No toxicity known |
| Origin: | Australia, New Guinea, Melanesia. |
| Notes: | Self-seeded plants can be produced in abundance but germination can be erratic, soaking the seed in warm water for a few hours may improve germination. Timber is pale brown to pale yellow often with attractive markings, tough and close grained. Two varieties are recognised by some authors, G. salicifolia var. latifolia and G. salicifolia var. slaicifolia. The former occurs in drier communities, has ovate to lanceolate or broadly elliptic leaves, 5-15cm long and 1.5-3.5cm as long as wide. The latter has narrowly elliptic to oblong elliptic leaves, 5-9cm long and three to eight times as long as wide. |
| Information sources: | Melzer R. & Plumb J. (2007) Plants of Capricornia. |
