About Phebalium woombye (F.M.Bailey) Domin
Phebalium woombye is a shrub that usually grows to 2 metres (6 feet 7 inches) tall. Its branchlets are covered with scales and star-shaped hairs. The leaves range from oblong to elliptical in shape, and measure 15 to 60 millimetres (0.59 to 2.36 inches) long and 2 to 11 millimetres (0.079 to 0.433 inches) wide, borne on a short petiole. The upper surface of the leaves is flat and glabrous, while the lower surface has a prominent mid-vein and is covered in silvery scales.
The flowers are arranged in umbels of four to ten at the ends of branchlets, with each flower growing on a pedicel 4 to 15 millimetres (0.16 to 0.59 inches) long. The calyx is top-shaped, around 3 millimetres (0.12 inches) long, with teeth roughly half that length; it is covered with silvery to rust-coloured scales on both its inner and outer surfaces. The petals are white to pink, egg-shaped with the narrower end at the base, around 6 millimetres (0.24 inches) long and 2.5 millimetres (0.098 inches) wide, and covered with rust-coloured scales on their back. This species flowers from July to August.
Phebalium woombye grows in coastal sand dunes and on sandstone outcrops, and sometimes also occurs on granite in the Gibraltar Range. Its range extends from south-east Queensland southward to Glenreagh in New South Wales.
