Melicytus dentatus

Erect to spreading shrub (1–)2–5(–6) m high, dioecious (in Vic.). Branchlets glabrous, or rarely, hispidulous, often tapering to spinose tips, often with slender lateral spines ca 1 cm long; branching angle mostly 45°–50°. Juvenile leaves usually broadly obovate, conspicuously dentate, often larger than adults; adult leaves oblong to narrowly obovate, (6–)25–40(–67) mm long, (2–)4–6(–11) mm wide, solitary or in fascicles of 2–5(–7), subsessile or sessile, margins usually callus-toothed to serrate with 1–20 teeth per margin, often confined to the distal half; apex acute to obtuse; leaves with stomata on lower surface only, glabrous, or with minute, scattered hairs just above base; lateral veins usually evident. Inflorescences 1- or 2- (rarely to 4-)flowered, axillary to old leaves or their petiole scars. Flowers pedicellate with a pair of small bracteoles between base and mid-point; sepals unequal, imbricate, 0.6–1.8 mm long; corolla campanulate, pale yellow to lemon yellow, daphe-scented (stronger in males). Male flowers with pedicels 2.5–6 mm long; corolla 3.0–4.0 mm long; anthers sessile, oblong, 1.4–1.8 mm long, with a membranous, orange-brown, denticulate appendage, exceeding anthers by ca. 1.3 mm; ovary and stigma vestigial. Female flowers with pedicels (1.5–)1.8–2.5 mm long; corolla 2–2.7 mm long; staminodes 0.7–0.8 mm long, sometimes with an appendage exceeding anther by up to 0.8 mm; ovary ovoid ca 1.5 mm long; style ca 1 mm long. Berry ellipsoid to ovoid, 7–8 mm long, 5–7 mm diam., maturing to bluish-grey or completely white; seeds 1 or 2, 3–4 mm long, plano-convex in section. Flowers Aug.–Oct.