page_title: Persoonia levis
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Persoonia levis / Description
caption_attribution_description: Scratch away the flaking bark of a smooth Geebung (Persoonia levis), and this bright red colour appears. Heathcote National Park, NSW Australia, April 2009.
context_page_description: Persoonia levis, commonly known as the broad-leaved geebung, is a shrub native to New South Wales and Victoria in eastern Australia. It reaches 5 m in height and has dark grey papery bark and bright green asymmetrical sickle-shaped leaves up to 14 cm long and 8 cm wide. The small yellow flowers appear in summer and autumn, followed by small green fleshy fruit, which are classified as drupes. Within the genus Persoonia, it is a member of the Lanceolata group of 58 closely related species. P. levis interbreeds with several other species where they grow together.
  Found in dry sclerophyll forest on sandstone-based nutrient-deficient soils, P. levis is adapted to a fire-prone environment; the plants resprout epicormic buds from beneath their thick bark after bushfires, and can live for over 60 years. Regeneration also takes place after fire by a ground-stored seed bank. The longtongue bee Leioproctus carinatifrons is a pollinator of the flowers, and the fruit are consumed by vertebrates such as kangaroos, possums and currawongs. Despite its horticultural appeal, P. levis is rare in cultivation as it is very hard to propagate, either by seed or cuttings.
context_section_description: Persoonia levis grows as a tall shrub to small tree, and can reach 5 m (16 ft) in height. The flaky soft bark is dark grey on the surface, while deeper layers are reddish in colour. Within the bark are epicormic buds, which sprout new growth after bushfire. The new growth is smooth to slightly hairy. The large green leaves measure 6 to 14 cm (2.2–5.5 in) in length, and 1.3 to 8 cm (0.5–3.2 in) in width, and are oblong or sickle-shaped (falcate). The asymmetrical shape helps distinguish the species from P. lanceolata. The bright green foliage, particularly of new growth, stands out against the more subdued tones of the surrounding vegetation and the stems, which are reddish in colour. The yellow flowers appear in summer and autumn (December to April), and peak over December to February. They are arranged on short axillary racemes along the branchlets. Each individual flower consists of a cylindrical perianth, consisting of tepals fused for most of their length, within which are both male and female parts. The central style is surrounded by the anther, which splits into four segments; these curl back and resemble a cross when viewed from above. They provide a landing area for insects attending to the stigma, which is located at the tip of the style. The smooth fleshy fruit, known as a drupe, is green and more or less round, measuring 1 cm (0.4 in) by 0.8 cm (0.3 in) in diameter. It contains two seeds, and has a spike at the end. The drupe is juicy but stringy when unripe, and the seeds and skin are inedible.
caption: Flaky bark, with reddish layers beneath
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