Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Leptospermum polyanthum
Common name
A tea-tree
Family
Myrtaceae
Where found
Dry forest, woodland, and heath on rocky escarpments and in rocky gullies. Coast, ranges, and the eastern edge of the tablelands, north from Batemans Bay.
Notes
Shrub or tree to 5 m tall, often weeping. Bark rough, furrowed, flaking. Stems hairy. Leaves aromatic when rubbed, alternating up the stems, 1-2.5 cm long, 2-4 mm wide, flat, becoming hairless; tips blunt or tapering, point blunt; bases tapering to a slender stalk. Flowers 5-10 mm in diameter, with 5 white petals, usually single, occasionally in pairs. Flowers Spring to Summer. Nuts very readily shed but some persisiting until the next flowering, about 3 mm in diameter.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Leptospermum~polyanthum (accessed 22 January, 2021)
Additional information in: Thompson, J. (8 December 1989), A revision of the genus Leptospermum (Myrtaceae). Telopea 3(3): 381-382, map 5-32
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