Narrow-leaved geebung

Appearance

''Persoonia linearis'' grows as a tall shrub to small tree, occasionally reaching 5 m in height but more commonly around 2–3 m tall. The flaky soft bark is dark grey on the surface, while deeper layers are reddish. Within the bark are epicormic buds, which sprout new growth after bushfire. The new growth is hairy. The leaves are more or less linear in shape, measuring 2 to 9 cm in length and 0.1 to 0.7 cm wide, with slightly down-rolled margins.

The yellow flowers appear in summer, autumn and early winter , peaking over January and February. They are arranged in leafy racemes, and each stem may bear up to 50 flowers. ''P. linearis'' is described as auxotelic, which means each stalk bears an individual flower that is subtended by a leaf at its junction with the stem.

Known as pedicels, these are covered in fine hair and measure 2–8 mm in length. 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 tepals are 0.9–1.4 cm long and covered in fine hair on the outside. 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 visiting the stigma, which is located at the tip of the style. The flowers are followed by the development of smooth fleshy drupes, which are green and more or less round, measuring 1.3 cm in diameter. Mature drupes may have purple blotches. Each bears one or two seeds within a woody "stone" and is shed once ripe, generally from September to November.

Distribution

One of the most common geebungs, ''Persoonia linearis'' is found from the Macleay River catchment on the New South Wales Mid North Coast to the Tambo River in eastern Victoria.

Habitat

It is found from sea level to altitudes of 1,000 m with an average yearly rainfall of 700 to 1,400 mm. It is a component of dry sclerophyll forest on both sandstone and clay soils. It grows in sunny to lightly shaded areas in open forest or woodland with a shrubby understory.