Description: Trees, glabrous except for minute rusty-pubescence on buds, young stems and parts of conflorescence.
Leaves alternate, simple [or pinnate to bipinnate], margins entire, lobed or pinnatisect.
Conflorescences terminal or in upper axils, umbellate, sometimes several together; bracts caducous or absent. Flowers zygomorphic. Perianth tube slightly slit along lower side while still in bud. Anthers sessile. Hypogynous glands united in a horseshoe-shaped nectary. Ovary stipitate; ovules numerous in 2 rows; style long and dilated apically into an oblique pollen presenter.
Fruit a follicle, narrow, with recurved pedicels; seeds with an outer membranous wing folded around the inner wing.
Distribution and occurrence: World: 25 spp., Malaysia to N.Cal. Aust.: 9 spp. (7 spp. endemic), Qld, N.S.W., N.T., W.A.
S. sinuatus, the Firewheel Tree, is often cultivated as an ornamental or street tree.
Text by G.J. Harden
Taxon concept:
| | Key to the species | |
| 1 | Leaves mostly more than 15 cm long, entire or lobed to pinnatisect, with only 1 longitudinal vein; flowers red, more than 20 mm long | Stenocarpus sinuatus |
| Leaves usually less than 15 cm long, entire, with at least 3 longitudinal veins; flowers yellowish, 10–20 mm long | Stenocarpus salignus |
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