Exocarpos homalocladus

Exocarpos homalocladus, commonly known as the grass tree, is a flowering plant in the sandalwood family. The specific epithet comes from the Greek homalos (“flat”) and clados (“cladode”, a leaf-like stem, specialised for photosynthesis), with reference to the structure of the plant.

Description
It is a shrub or small tree growing to 4 m in height. The flat cladodes are 50–100 mm long, 1–2 mm wide. True leaves only occur on juvenile shoots; they are narrowly lanceolate, 50–80 mm long, 5–15 mm wide. The tiny yellow-green flowers occur in clusters from March to July. The fruits are red and fleshy, 8 mm long and seated on swollen red stalks that turn translucent pink when ripe.

Distribution and habitat
The species is endemic to Australia’s subtropical Lord Howe Island in the Tasman Sea, where it is fairly common and found from sea level to the summits of the mountains.