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habit (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
once-compound leaves (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
immature fruit (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
mature fruit with black seeds that are covered in a bright red fleshy aril (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
Scientific Name
Alectryon tomentosus (F. Muell.) Radlk.
Synonyms
Alectryon tomentosum (F. Muell.) Radlk., orth. var.Alectryon tomentosus (F. Muell.) Radlk. var. tomentosus Nephelium subdentatum F.Muell. (misapplied)Nephelium tomentosum F. Muell.Spanoghea tomentosa F.Muell.
Family
Sapindaceae
Common Names
bed-jacket, hairy alectryon, hairy bird's eye, hairy bird's-eye, hairy birdseye, native rambutan, red jacket, woolly rambutan
Origin
Native to large parts of eastern Australia, from northern Queensland to the Hunter Valley in central New South Wales.
Naturalised Distribution
Naturalised beyond its native range in central New South Wales.
Notes
Woolly rambutan (Alectryon tomentosus) is regarded as an environmental weed in those parts of New South Wales that are outside its native range. This species grows naturally in all types of rainforest in the sub-tropical and tropical regions of eastern Australia. It has also been cultivated as an ornamental, both within and outside its native range. Woolly rambutan (Alectryon tomentosus) has escaped from cultivation in southern New South Wales and is now considered to be an emerging environmental weed in the Sydney region.