Astrotricha latifolia, known as the broad-leaf star-hair,[1] is a species of flowering plant in the Family Araliaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is a large shrub with oblong to egg-shaped or elliptic leaves, and yellowish-green flowers.
Astrotricha latifolia is a large shrub that typiclly grows to a height of, sometimes to and usually has many erect to spreadig branches. Its young branches are covered with loose, fluffy hairs. The leaves are oblong to egg-shaped or elliptic, sometimes shield-shaped, long and wide on a petiole long. The upper surface of the leaves is smooth and green, the lower side sparsely hairy with the network of veins visible underneath. The flowers are borne in a large inflorescence up to long and are greenish-yellow. Flowering occursin October and November and the fruit is not winged.[2] [3] [4]
Astrotricha latifolia was first formally described in 1837 by George Bentham in Enumeratio plantarum quas in Novae Hollandiae ora austro-occidentali ad fluvium Cygnorum et in sinu Regis Georgii collegit Carolus Liber Baro de Hügel.[5] [6] The specific epithet (latifolia) means 'broad-leaved'.
Broad-leaf star-hair grows in wet forests or the edges of rainforest from sea level to an altitude of in a wide variety of soil types and occurs from about Gympie in south-east Queensland to Narooma in southern coastal New South Wales and west to the Great Dividing Range