Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Leptospermum macrocarpum

Flowers and leaves. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, Australian National Botanic Gardens, Canberra, ACT

Flowers, nut, and leaves. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, Australian National Botanic Gardens, Canberra, ACT

Common name

A tea-tree

Family

Myrtaceae

Where found

Dry forest and heath on exposed rocky or dry sandstone sites. Ranges north from the Great Western Highway.

Notes

Shrub to 2 m high. Bark rough, densely layered and becoming gnarled. Younger stems hairy. Leaves aromatic when rubbed, alternating up the stems, mostly 1–2 cm long, mostly 5–10 mm wide, usually flat, surfaces ultimately hairless; tips blunt or pointed, often folded upwards, point stiff; bases tapering or sometimes almost cordate, with a leaf stalk. Flowers 15–30 mm in diameter, with 5 white, pink, or dark red petals, single. Flowers October to December. Nuts persistent, often 15-20 mm in diameter.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Leptospermum~macrocarpum  (accessed 22 January, 2021)

Additional information in: Thompson, J. (8 December 1989), A revision of the genus Leptospermum (Myrtaceae). Telopea 3(3): 432-433, map 9-72