Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Leptospermum parvifolium

Flowering branches. Photographer Don Wood, Bomaderry Creek Regional Reserve near Nowra

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

Shrub. Flowering branch. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer S Douglas, Glenorie, Sydney

Common name

Small-leaved tea-tree

Family

Myrtaceae

Where found

Dry forest. Coast and ranges north from Jervis Bay. Occasionally elsewhere.

Notes

Shrub to 2 m tall. Bark rough, flaking. Stems hairy to hairless. Prominent leaf scars on older branches. Leaves aromatic when rubbed, alternating up the stems, mostly 0.3-0.8 cm long, 1-3 mm wide, usually hairless; tips usually rounded, flat or curved upwards; bases tapering to a slender stalk about 1 mm in length. Flowers about 10 mm in diameter, with 5 white or pink petals. Flowers mostly Spring. Nuts often held through the season before being readily shed, about 4 mm in diameter, hairy.

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

Additional information in: Thompson, J. (8 December 1989), A revision of the genus Leptospermum (Myrtaceae). Telopea 3(3): 363-364, map 4-16