Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Darwinia taxifolia
A Darwinia
Myrtaceae
subsp. macrolaena Ranges and the eastern part of the tablelands between west of Ulladulla and Colovale, on shallow sandy soil, below 50 m altitude.
subsp. taxifolia Blue Mountains and northwards, in gully and ridge situations, above 900 m altitude.
Shrub to 1 m tall, upright or sprawling. Leaves aromatic when rubbed, opposite each other, 0.5-1.2 cm long, 0.3-1.3 mm wide. Flowers with 5 sepals 0.5-1 mm mm long and 5 curved petals 1-2 mm long at the top of the floral tube. Floral tube 5-9 mm long, pale pink to dark purple-red. Style 6-24 mm long, red. Flowers surrounded by 2 pink to purple red bracteoles 5-14 mm long, falling after the flowers open. Flowers in clusters of 2-6, arranged in pairs. Flowers Spring to Summer.
subsp. macrolaena Bracteoles 7–14 mm long. Floral tube 6–9 mm long. Petals 1.5–2 mm long. Style 15–24 mm long
subsp. taxifolia Bracteoles 5–8 mm long. Floral tube 5–6 mm long. Petals 1–1.5 mm long. Style 6–12 mm long.
PlantNET description of species and key to subspecies: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Darwinia~taxifolia (accessed 9 January, 2021)
Additional information in Briggs, B.G. (1962) The New South Wales Species of Darwinia. Contributions from the New South Wales National Herbarium. 3(3): 136-139
This identification key and fact sheets are available as a free mobile application: