Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Eriostemon australasius

Flowers and leaves. Photographer Jackie Miles, Waterfall, Sydney area

Flowering branches. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, Australian National Botanic Gardens, Canberra, ACT

Flowering shrub. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, Australian National Botanic Gardens, Canberra, ACT

Common name

Pink wax flower

Family

Rutaceae

Where found

Dry forest, heath, and shrubland. Mainly north of the Nowra district. Coast, ranges, Southern Highlands, and the eastern edge of the tablelands. Rarely elsewhere.

Notes

 Shrub to 2 m high. Stems angled, smooth, minutely stellate-hairy (needs a hand lens or a macro app on your phone/tablet to see). Leaves aromatic when rubbed, alternating up the stems, 2–8 cm long, 8–14 mm wide, tips pointed, both surfaces sparsely covered with minute stellate hairs when young, eventually hairless. Flowers pink to red, with 5 petals each about 18 mm long. 5–12 scattered sepal-like bracteoles just below the flowers. Flowers single at the bases of the leaves. Flowering: spring.

Protected NSW.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Eriostemon~australasius  (accessed 14 January, 2019)