About Alchornea ilicifolia (Js.Sm.) Müll.Arg.
Alchornea ilicifolia, commonly known as native holly, is most often a shrub, and rarely grows as a small tree reaching up to 6 m (20 ft) in height. Its trunk is typically crooked, covered in pale grey smooth bark that features some pustules and lenticels. Small branches of this plant are greenish or fawn colored, marked with paler lenticels. Its leaves resemble holly leaves, measuring 2 to 8 cm (0.8 to 3 in) long and 2 to 5 cm (0.8 to 2 in) wide. Leaves are ovate or rhomboidal in shape, with three or four acute lobes on each side, each lobe ending in a sharp spine. The leaves are stiff and glabrous, attached by a petiole around 3 mm (0.1 in) long. This species occurs in vine thickets and monsoon forest across a variety of soil types, with a range extending from Jamberoo on the south coast of New South Wales to Atherton in far north Queensland. Alchornea ilicifolia acts as a host plant for the larvae of the common albatross butterfly and the moth Dichomeris mesoctenis.
