Saurauia avellana is a species of plant in the Actinidiaceae family. It is native to the Philippines.[1] Adolph Daniel Edward Elmer, the American botanist who first formally described the species, named it after the dense covering of hazel-colored (avellaneus in Latin)[2] downy hair covering the underside of its leaves.[3]
It is a bush reaching 3 to 5 meters in height. Its rigid leaves are variable in size, but are normally 20 by 8 centimeters with rounded tips. The leaves are hairless on their upper surface and dense with nut-brown hair on their lower surface. The leaves have 13-17 pairs of secondary veins emanating from their midribs. The leaf margins have small serrations. Its scaly petioles are 1-3 millimeters long. Inflorescences are axillary and organized on peduncles 1-5 millimeters in length. The peduncle can be branched and more than one can emerge from the same leaf axil. Each flower is on a scaly pedicel 3-5 millimeters in length. Its flowers have 5 sepals, 5 millimeters long, that are united at their base. The sepals are scaly on their outer surface and smooth on their inner surface. Its flowers have 5 white petals that are united at their base. The petals are smooth on both surfaces. Its flowers have numerous stamens that are 1.75 millimeters long. Its styles are 3 millimeters long. Each flower has a 3-chambered superior ovary. Each ovary contains numerous ovules.
The pollen of Saurauia avellana is shed as permanent tetrads.[4]