Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Leptospermum micromyrtus
Common name
Button tea-tree, Alpine tea-tree
Family
Myrtaceae
Where found
Forest and woodland. Heath in exposed rocky mountain areas, or among granite boulders. Kosciuszko National Park, the mountains to the north, and ACT. Tablelands south of the Hume Highway.
Notes
Shrub to 3 m tall. Bark on smaller stems smooth and papery or becoming rough, shedding in papery flakes, on larger stems smooth, shedding in papery strips. Younger stems with a narrow flange near the bases of the leaf stalks, hairy or hairless. Leaves aromatic when rubbed, alternating up the stems, 0.7-2.2 cm long, 3-14 mm wide, margins flat or curved down, often hairy, surfaces with prominent glands, tips broad and rounded with a conical point, or pointed with a short blunt point; bases tapering or rounded above a short stalk. Flowers single, occasionally 2 together, 10-15 mm in diameter, with 5 white petals, single, occasionally in pairs. Flowers Summer. Nuts persisting, very variable in size, usually 5-9 mm in diameter, often submerged in the stem; surface lifting, flaking, later gnarled.
All native plants on unleased land in the ACT are protected.
Rare Vic.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Leptospermum~micromyrtus (accessed 25 January, 2021)
Additional information in: Thompson, J. (8 December 1989), A revision of the genus Leptospermum (Myrtaceae). Telopea 3(3): 414-415, map 8-57
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