Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

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Choretrum pauciflorum

Common name

Dwarf sour bush, Sour bush

Family

Santalaceae

Where found

Forest, woodland, and heath. Widespread. 

Notes

Shrub to 2 m high or sprawling, arising from a woody rhizome or rootstock. Branches hairless, rigid, cylindrical, 1-2 mm wide, older branch tips almost spiny, sometimes slightly grooved or scarcely angled. Leaves scale-like, 0.5–2 mm long, appressed to slightly spreading, alternating up the stems, sometimes absent. Flowers 3-4 mm in diameter, with 5 white or cream  'petals' about 1 mm long. Flowers single. Flowering: spring-summer, sporadically throughout the year. Fruit initially fleshy, dry when mature, green. 

Occasional intermediates between Choretrum candollei and Choretrum pauciflorum are known.

All native plants on unleased land in the ACT are protected.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Choretrum~pauciflorum (accessed 7 January, 2021)