Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Leionema ralstonii

Flowering stems. Photographer Don Wood, just below Nethercote Falls, near Eden

Stem with flowers and open seed cases. Photographer Jackie Miles

Shrub. Photographer Jackie Miles

Common name

Ralston's leionema

Family

Rutaceae

Where found

Open forest, shrubland, rocky areas, and along streams. Coast and ranges south from Merimbula.

Notes

Shrub to 1 m high. Stalks of individual flowers fleshy. Stems smooth, hairless. Leaves aromatic when rubbed, alternating up the stems, 2.5–5 cm long, 5–8 mm wide, tips blunt and notched, margins curved or rolled down, att least when dry, surfaces smooth, more or less hairless, midrib impressed above and prominent below. Flowers with 5 petals, pale green, sometimes with pink to red bases, each about 8 mm long, gland-dotted, and yellow stamens extending more than twice as long as the petals. Flowers drooping, in clusters of 4–7 flowers. Flowering: sporadically, but chiefly winter.

Vulnerable Australia. Vulnerable NSW. Provisions of the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 No 63 relating to the protection of protected plants generally also apply to plants that are a threatened species.

NSW Threatened Species profile:  http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/threatenedSpeciesApp/profile.aspx?id=10873  (accessed 6 January, 2021)

PlantNET description:   http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Leionema~ralstonii  (accessed 6 January, 2021)