Velvet Hop Bush  |  

Dodonaea rupicola, Family Sapindaceae, is a shrub to 1 m tall with spreading branches and
rounded to somewhat angular branchlets densely covered in coarse hairs. Leaves are pinnate
(divided into leaflets), 1.5Ð3.5 cm long on a stalk 3Ð8 mm long, ending in a single terminal
leaflet. Each leaf has 10Ð18 lateral leaflets which are often curved downwards, 4Ð9.5 mm
long, 2Ð4 mm wide, with a dense covering of coarse hairs, margins entire or sometimes wavy.
The terminal leaflet is lobe-like. This species has separate male and female plants with
unisexual flowers borne in branched inflorescences. Flowers are on stalks 2Ð2.5 mm long,
lacking petals. The fruit is a four-winged capsule 7.5Ð9 mm long, 12Ð15 mm wide, red-brown
at maturity, leathery, the wings extending 3Ð4 mm beyond the main body of the capsule.
Flowering and fruiting usually occur from September to November (West, 1984, 1985).