Cliffortia conifera E.G.H.Oliv. & Fellingham

Woody erect shrubs up to 4 m tall with main trunk up to 150 mm in diameter with dark grey, flaking bark, plants regenerating from a lignotuber. Branches incano-floccose with crisped branched hairs submedially attached, the hairs falling off with age. Leaves 3-foliolate with broad totally sheathing incano-floccose vagina remaining on branches after leaflets have been shed and giving segmented appearance to branches; stipules subulate from 0.5 mm long in young leaves to 2.0 mm in old leaves, remaining on vagina for some time after leaflets have been shed, hairy in lower part becoming totally glabrous, cream to reddish; leaflets (10-)12-17(-18) x (2)3-6(-9) mm, narrowly elliptic or narrowly ovate to ovate, mostly entire, occasionally [2]3[4]-lobed, with margins slightly revolute abaxially, completely incano-floccose when young soon becoming glabrous mostly on apical half of upper surface and margins and remaining incano-floccose on lower surface, all apices acute and subulate, subula 0.25-1.50 mm long, colourless or reddish. Inflorescence (male): a condensed raceme of 3 or 4(5) flowers on a villous highly reduced brachyblast in axil of a subapical leaf of lower lateral branches situated well below apex of main branches. Flowers (male) very shortly pedicellate, creamy white; bract up to 1.5 mm long, narrowly triangular, long ciliate, whitish soon turning brown; sepals 2.8-3.2 x 1.8-3.0 mm, broadly elliptic or subcircular to broadly obovate with apex subacute thickened, mostly reflexed, villous to lanate outside; stamens 6-9; filaments 3.5-5.0 mm long. Filiform glabrous; anthers 1.0 x 1.2 mm. Inflorescence (female): many condensed double racemes (homoeothetic dibotrya) aggregated into an obovoid, occasionally sphaeroid, cone-like synflorescence at end of a short lateral branchlet, these cones (1-)4-10 in a subterminal zone on main branches, rarely on secondary branches, young cones 12 x 12-30 x 22 mm whitish yellow-green and old mature cones mostly 25 x 25 mm dull grey-green, all incanous, older fruiting cones retained for up to 6 years, vegetative region between zones 50-80 mm long, occasionally up to 300 mm; leaves of primary cone axis (primary cone leaves) (3-)1-foliolate, with very broad vagina, with or without short lateral subulate stipules, ciliate, densely and shortly lanate abaxially, glabrous adaxially, leaflets 0.5-2.0 mm long, reduced otherwise foliaceous, inner with an expanded sheathing base; dibotrya of 4-6 co-florescences of second order with axis 0.5-2.0 mm long; leaves of secondary cone axis (secondary cone leaves) unifoliolate, arranged involucre-like around florescences (botrya), 5-10 x 3-5 mm, at first obliquely obovoid and soft, becoming elongate-obovoid and very woody, reducing in size towards axis, with inwardly pointing apical subula, ovoid, attenuated into a long stout terminal subula, apically greenish densely and shortly lanate, basally white glabrous and ciliate; co-florescence (botryum) highly condensed with 5-18 flowers in a capitulum-like arrangement, axis very short, truncate, long villous. Flowers (female) mostly hidden; bract up to 1.5 mm long or absent, very thin, elongate triangular, long ciliate, brownish; pedicel 0.1-0.2 mm long; sepals 3 or 4, 1.7-2.0 x 0.3 mm, linear subacute to obtuse, lanate outside apically otherwise glabrous, erect to slightly spreading, colourless; receptacle 0.9-1.2 mm, obovoid, with 3-4 longitudinal narrow ridges or wings ending in small apical bulges, glabrous; style 1, linear, planoconvex, 4.5-5.0 x 0.2-0.25 mm, curled and twisted, exserted from cone, white, edged in upper half with short irregular red stigmatic teeth. Fruit 1.8-3.5 x 0.8-1.0 mm, irregularly ellipsoid to ovoid, dark brown and glabrous with 3 or 4 yellowish longitudinal narrow ridges or wings, apically emarginate, retained within cone for several years after flowering period. In C. conifera the female and male flowers are most prolific during the late summer and autumn months from April to June with some of the female flowers opening as late as August.