Elattostachys xylocarpa, known as the White Tamarind or Short-leaf Beetroot is a common rainforest tree of eastern Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. Found in the drier rainforests, which are based on volcanic soils. From as far south as the Orara River

Orara River

The Orara River is a significant tributary of the Clarence River, located in northern New South Wales, Australia.The river begins in the hills behind the city of Coffs Harbour and runs in a general north-westerly direction for approximately 100 kilometres to the Clarence River at Eatonsville,...

 in northern New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

 to Bowen

Bowen, Queensland

Bowen is a town on the eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. At the 2006 census, Bowen had a population of 7,484.-Geography:Bowen is located on the north-east coast of Australia, at exactly twenty degrees south of the equator. In fact, the twentieth parallel crosses the main street...

 in tropical Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

. The name Elattostachys refers to "little spikes", a flower feature of other plants in this genus. xylocarpa refers to the thicky woody fruit.

Description

A small to medium sized tree up to 25 metres tall, with a stem diameter of 35 cm. The trunk may be fluted at the base. Dark brown bark is relatively smooth, with horizontal raised lines. Leaves pinnate

Pinnate

Pinnate is a term used to describe feather-like or multi-divided features arising from both sides of a common axis in plant or animal structures, and comes from the Latin word pinna meaning "feather", "wing", or "fin". A similar term is pectinate, which refers to a comb-like arrangement of parts...

 and alternate on the stem. Leaflet stalks 3 mm long. Leaflets toothed, 3 to 8 cm long, 1.5 to 4 cm wide . Small hairy tufts may be found where the lateral leaf veins meet the mid rib leaf vein.

Red flowers form on panicle

Panicle

A panicle is a compound raceme, a loose, much-branched indeterminate inflorescence with pedicellate flowers attached along the secondary branches; in other words, a branched cluster of flowers in which the branches are racemes....

s between December and April. The fruit is a round or pear shaped capsule, yellowish on the outside. Usually splitting into three valved sections, with one black glossy seed. Often the sections are without seed. White to dark red aril

Aril

An aril is any specialized outgrowth from the funiculus that covers or is attached to the seed. It is sometimes applied to any appendage or thickening of the seed coat in flowering plants, such as the edible parts of the mangosteen and pomegranate fruit, the mace of the nutmeg seed, or the...

is inside the fruiting capsule. Fruit ripens from March to June.