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FERN LEAF HOP BUSH

Dodonaea boronifolia

Plant Family

Sapindaceae

Alternative Common Names

Small hopbush, hairy hopbush

Much branched often sticky shrub, 1-2m high, the branches and leaves bearing sparse short bent hairs.

Leaves – alternate, fern-like, each consisting of 2-4 pairs of opposite leaflets arranged along a common axis, the leaflets 4—8mm long, wedge-shaped, usually toothed at the tip, sticky, dark-green, the edges usually down-curved, the axis narrowly winged between the leaflets.

Flowers – inconspicuous, without petals, male and female on separate plants, borne in clusters in the leaf axils or at the ends of the branches.

Fruit – red or purple capsule, 12-18mm long with 3-4 large vertical wings.

Flowering – winter – spring.

Habitat

Most common on shallow sandy soils in hilly areas, usually in currawang, green mallee and grey box communities, less common on sandplains in mallee, buck spinifex and white cypress pine communities. A relatively uncommon but attractive species, usually occurring as scattered plants often in protected areas. Rarely grazed by stock and appears to have little pastoral value.

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