Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Leptospermum rotundifolium

Flowering branches. Photographer Don Wood, Boyd Lookout, Morton National Park, north west of Milton

Flower, flower buds, and leaves. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, Australian National Botanic Gardens, Canberra, ACT

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

Common name

Round-leaved tea-tree

Family

Myrtaceae

Where found

Heath, shrubland, woodland, and dry forest. Sometimes on rocky escarpments. Coast, ranges, and the eastern edge of the tablelands between the Kings Highway and west of Thirroul. Plants elsewhere are probably planted/naturalised.

Notes

Shrub to 2.5 m tall. Bark rough, eventually gnarled. Stems hairy to hairless. Leaves aromatic when rubbed, alternating up the stems, 0.4-0.7 cm long, 4-7 mm wide, more or less round, thick, margins curved upwards; tips rounded or pointed, usually folded inwards and curved down, with a blunt point; bases tapering, rounded or somewhat cordate; stalks hairy, about 1 mm long.. Flowers about 30 mm in diameter, with 5 pink to white petals. Flowers Spring to Summer. Nuts long persistent, usually 8-15 mm in diameter.

Protected NSW.

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

Additional information in: Thompson, J. (8 December 1989), A revision of the genus Leptospermum (Myrtaceae). Telopea 3(3): 422-423, map 8-63