Persoonia arborea, commonly known as Tree Geebung, is a small tree species that is endemic to Victoria

Victoria (Australia)

Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. It grows to between 5 and 10 metres in height. The leaves widen toward the tips, which are rounded. The yellow or cream flowers have four petals and appear between December and February in the species native range. These are followed by fleshy green fruits.

The species was first formally described by the Victorian Government botanist Ferdinand von Mueller

Ferdinand von Mueller

Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, KCMG was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist.-Early life:...

 in 1865 in the fifth volume of Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae

Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae

Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae is a series of papers authored by the Victorian Government botanist Ferdinand von Mueller in which he published many of his approximately 2000 descriptions of new taxa of Australian plants. The papers were issued in 94 parts between 1858 and 1882 and published in...

. His description was based on plant material collected from "headwaters of the La Trobe

Latrobe River

The La Trobe River is a river in Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. It begins in the area between Powelltown and Noojee where it shares a watershed with the Little Yarra River, a tributary of the Yarra River, and has a number of tributaries joining it from the southern slopes of the Baw Baw plateau,...

 and Yarra

Yarra River

The Yarra River, originally Birrarung, is a river in east-central Victoria, Australia. The lower stretches of the river is where the city of Melbourne was established in 1835 and today Greater Melbourne dominates and influences the landscape of its lower reaches...

 Rivers".

The species occurs in high rainfall Mountain Ash

Eucalyptus

Eucalyptus is a diverse genus of flowering trees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Members of the genus dominate the tree flora of Australia...

 forest to the north-east of Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

. It is listed as "vulnerable" on the Department of Sustainability and Environment's Advisory List of Rare Or Threatened Plants In Victoria. However, within its limited range it is relatively common, and is able to colonise disturbed areas. About 40% of its habitat lies within the Yarra Ranges National Park

Yarra Ranges National Park

Yarra Ranges is a national park in Victoria, Australia, 92 km east of Melbourne. It covers the headwaters of the Yarra River in the ranges themselves and several water catchments for Melbourne's domestic water supply....

, while the remaining 60% occurs on public land utilised for logging.