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Halfordia is a genus of plants in the family Rutaceae containing the single species Halfordia kendack, commonly known as kerosenewood, southern ghittoe or saffronheart. It is a rainforest plant that is native to eastern Australia, New Guinea and New Caledonia. It is a shrub or tree with elliptical to egg-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base, panicles of white, greenish white or yellowish flowers and purple to bluish black, spherical to oval fruit.
Kerosenewood grows in monsoon woodland and rainforest in coastal and inland areas from sea level to an altitude of 1,260 m (4,130 ft). It is found in New Caledonia, New Guinea and eastern Australia. In Australia it occurs from the Torres Strait Islands to the Cape York Peninsula in Queensland, south to Iluka in New South Wales, including on the Mcpherson and Tweed Ranges.
Before the development of fibreglass and carbon fibre, the timber of this species was used in the manufacture of fishing rods. The oily, flexible timber is hard, weighing 1100 kg per cubic metre. This plant is gaining popularity in horticulture. The wood is highly flammable, and chips of wood may be used to start a fire, even when wet, hence one of the common names, "kerosene wood".
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Halfordia by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
