Wikstroemia indica aka Tiebush

Wikstroemia indica belongs to the Thymelaeaceae family. This shrub is evergreen: it keeps its leaves all year. It is native to tropical and subtropical parts of Asia. Its range reaches Australia and parts of the southwestern Pacific. Records list India, Sri Lanka, southern China, and the Philippines. They also list Malaysia, Indonesia, and New Guinea. Kew places it in the wet tropical biome.

This woody plant grows about 1.6–6.6 feet [0.5–2 metres] tall. Some plants grow taller, but the source gives no top height. A separate entry gives a height of 4.9 feet [1.5 metres]. The trunk is smooth, with tough bark beneath its surface. People can pull off this bark in long strips. The inner bark yields pale fibres that shine like silk. The wood is deep red and has a coarse grain.

In northeastern Australia, the shrub grows at rainforest edges. It also grows in wet forests with eucalypts. Some of these sites have poor soil. The sources give no garden care advice for this species. They give no frost limits or hardiness zone. They do not state the flower colour or bloom season. Nor do they describe the shape of the fruit. Useful Tropical Plants notes that it can form seed without fertilisation. The term for this is apomixy. That source also lists seed as a way to grow new plants.

People gather this shrub from the wild for useful materials. They use bark strips as string and inner fibres for rope. The fibres also make strong, fine paper. In the past, traders sent bark from the Philippines to Japan. Paper makers there used it for banknotes and other long-lasting papers. Farmers have also used the leaves to kill insects. These uses explain much of the plant's recorded value. The evidence gives no role for it in garden design.

In traditional medicine, people use fresh leaves as poultices. They apply these to boils and inflamed skin. The account warns that the leaves can irritate skin. These reports of past use do not prove treatment is safe. Both the leaves and fruit are poisonous. Reports link deaths in children to eating the fruit. The source lists no known food uses for this plant. Its toxic fruit makes it unfit for use as food.