They grow naturally across Australasia, Papuasia, Melanesia, western Polynesia, east Malesia and Southeast Asia, including across mainland Australia, especially diverse in eastern Queensland and New South Wales, the Torres Strait Islands, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Vanuatu, Fiji, Samoa, Hawaii, Indonesia and the Philippines.

[2][6] In the continent of, combined New Guinea including Papua New Guinea and West Papua, Australia and all of their continental islands, including the Torres Strait Islands, known collectively in biogeography as the Sahul continent, lives the even greater diversity and endemism of 21 and 19 species, respectively.

[8][9] In Australia: German botanist Joseph Gaertner formally named and described this genus and the New Zealand type species A. excelsus in 1788.

See also: Alectryon (mythology) During the 1800s German–Australian botanist Ferdinand von Mueller published formal scientific descriptions of numerous Australian species under the now synonym genus name Spanoghea.

[15] Species height varies form low shrubs to trees of 30 m. Their leathery leaves may be simple or pinnate foliage.