The moment I laid my eyes on this plant I knew I was seeing something very significant. I was one of those moments in your lifetime of botany when you knew you were looking at a treasure. And indeed it was. It was the one and only Neostrearia fleckeri, one of the only three representative of the Witch hazel family (Hamamelidaceae) in Queensland. The family is probably more well known in the subtropical or temperate regions. Surely everyone has heard of witch hazels (Hamamelis). Indeed, the flowers of Neostrearia were borne on a spike and were extremely reminiscent of witch hazel flowers.
Ironically, the common name is Flecker’s Hard Alder, which doesn’t say much about the affinities of this plant. The Alders (Ulnus) of the temperate zone belong to the birch family (Betulaceae).
I imagine that when sterile, the species would be recognizable by the little stipules (leaf-like appendages) at the leaf nodes and the leaves with pale undersides.
Leaf Whispering in the Tropics 