Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

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Leptospermum juniperinum

Common name

Prickly tea-tree

Family

Myrtaceae

Where found

Dry forest, heath, along streams, and swamps. Widespread.

Notes

Shrub to 4 m tall. Leaves usually with sharp points. Bark rough and finely fissured. Younger stems often with fine hairs, with a conspicuous flange curving about the stem. Leaves aromatic when rubbed, alternating up the stems, mostly 0.5-1.5 cm long, usually 1-2 mm wide, silvery-silky but soon becoming hairless; bases usually tapering slightly, stalk more or less absent. Flowers 6-12 mm acros, with 5 white or greenish white to pink petals, usually single. Flowers are produced on new growth. Flowers irregularly, mostly Spring to Summer. Nuts rather long-persisting, rarely more than 7 mm in diameter.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Leptospermum~juniperinum (accessed 22 January, 2021)

Additional information in: Thompson, J. (8 December 1989), A revision of the genus Leptospermum (Myrtaceae). Telopea 3(3): 418-420, map 8-60