Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Leptospermum scoparium
Common name
Manuka, Tea-tree
Family
Myrtaceae
Where found
Dry forest, moist heath, and along streams, sometimes in rocky places. Coast and ranges south of Bega. Occasionally elsewhere.
Notes
Shrub to about 5 m tall, sometimes sprawling. Leaves with sharp tips. Bark on smaller stems smooth, shedding in stringy strips, on larger stems rough, rarely layered. Younger stems hairy, becoming hairless, with a narrow to broad flange near the bases of of the leaf stalks. A conspicuous flange usually curving round the stem. Leaves aromatic when rubbed, alternating up the stems, about 0.7-2.2 cm long, usually 2-7 mm wide, mostly spreading, broadest about the middle, margins curved upwards, new growth silvery hairy; tips often pointed, bases usually tapering to a short often stout stalk which is sometimes more or less absent. Flowers usually 8-14 mm in diameter, with 5 white (rarely pink or red) petals, single, occasionally several flowers together. Flowers are produced on new growth. Flowers Spring to Autumn. Nuts persisting, 6-10 mm in diameter or more.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Leptospermum~scoparium (accessed 22 January, 2021)
Additional information in: Thompson, J. (8 December 1989), A revision of the genus Leptospermum (Myrtaceae). Telopea 3(3): 415-417, map 8-58
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