Celtis paniculata is a coastal rainforest tree. In Australia it occurs from Kiama (34° S) in New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

 to the Endeavour River

Endeavour River

The Endeavour River on Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland, Australia, was named in 1770 by Lt. James Cook, R.N., after he was forced to beach his ship, HM Bark Endeavour, for repairs in the river mouth, after damaging it on Endeavour Reef...

 (15° S) in tropical Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

. It also grows at Norfolk Island

Norfolk Island

Norfolk Island is a small island in the Pacific Ocean located between Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia. The island is part of the Commonwealth of Australia, but it enjoys a large degree of self-governance...

, Eastern Malesia

Malesia

Malesia is a biogeographical region straddling the boundaries of the Indomalaya ecozone and Australasia ecozone, and also a phytogeographical floristic region in the Paleotropical Kingdom.-Floristic province:...

, Micronesia

Micronesia

Micronesia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising thousands of small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It is distinct from Melanesia to the south, and Polynesia to the east. The Philippines lie to the west, and Indonesia to the southwest....

, and Western Polynesia

Polynesia

Polynesia is a subregion of Oceania, made up of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are termed Polynesians and they share many similar traits including language, culture and beliefs...

. In Australia it is known as the Native Hackberry or Silky Celtis.

It is a food tree for the Blue Beak

Libythea geoffroy

The Purple Beak is a butterfly found in parts of India and Myanmar that belongs to the Libytheinae group of the Brush-footed butterflies family.-Description:Race alompra, Moore.Male upperside is pale brown....

, Common Aeroplane, Tailed Emperor and other butterflies.

Description

Growing to 40 metres tall and 90 cm in width. The trunk is mostly cylindrical and somewhat buttressed at the base. The bark is thin, brown and smooth, with pustular vertical lines.

Leaves

Leaves are alternate and simple, smooth, not toothed 6 to 10 cm long with a pointed tip. The leaf stalk is somewhat channeled and flattened on the top, and 6 to 10 mm in length. Both sides of the leaf are a dull green. With a hand lens, translucent glands may be seen in the leaves.

The base of the leaf is often oblique, that is of being of unequal length on either side of the leaf stem. Leaf venation is more evident under the leaf. An identifying feature is the intramarginal leaf vein, which starts at the leaf base and travels on either edge of the leaf. Of a distance of a quarter to a half of the length of the leaf.

Flowers and fruit

Green flowers in cymes appear from December to January. The fruit is a round shaped drupe

Drupe

In botany, a drupe is a fruit in which an outer fleshy part surrounds a shell of hardened endocarp with a seed inside. These fruits develop from a single carpel, and mostly from flowers with superior ovaries...

, 8 to 10 mm long containing a single seed. Fruit matures from August to March.