Common name: Rice Paper Plant
Tetrapanax papyrifer (Hook.f.) K.Koch APNI* 
Description: Shrub to 4 m high.
Leaves ovate to broad ovate, 14–55 cm long, 8–28 cm wide, palmately 7–9-lobed, often with secondary lobing and with the obtuse ultimate lobes often dentate; discolorous (darker above); upper surface more or less glabrous; lower surface with a pale close indumentum, main veins conspicuous, petiole 5–55 cm long.
Inflorescence a large compound panicle, up to 50 c. or more long, loosely floccose throughout, the umbels very regular in size, usually c. 1.5 cm diam.; pedicels c. 5 mm long, hairy.
Flowering: spring–summer.
Distribution and occurrence: Cultivated for its ornamental foliage; sporadically naturalized as a garden escape from Murwillumbah to Eden.
NSW subdivisions: *NC, *CC, *SC, ?CT, *LHI
The stem pith is traditionally used in Asia for making rice-paper.
Text by M. J. Henwood & R. O. Makinson
Taxon concept: Flora of NSW 3 (1992)
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data
***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.
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