Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Backhousia leptopetala
Common name
Brown Myrtle, Brush Turpentine
Family
Myrtaceae
Where found
Rainforest margins on poorer soils, often near watercourses or on ridges in wet forest. North from the Sydney area and the Blue Mountains.
Notes
Shrub or tree to 12 m tall. Bark rough, somewhat flaky. Branchlets Young stems and flower clusters rusty-hairy. Leaves smelling of eucalyptus when rubbed, opposite each other, 5–15 cm long, 15–55 mm wide, upper surface green, lower surface rusty or greyish hairy, margins often minutely scalloped and more or less curved down, tips gradually tapering to a point. Flowers cream, rusty-hairy, with 4-5 small petals, stalkless, in tight globular clusters. Stamens 4–8 mm long, Flowers July–Sept.
PlantNET description: https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Backhousia~leptopetala (accessed 11 January, 2021)
This identification key and fact sheets are available as a free mobile application:
