Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Melaleuca thymifolia

Flowering branch. Photographer Don Wood, Jervis Bay Road, Jervis Bay, NSW

Nuts. Photographer John Tann, Darkes Forest near Wollongong

Common name

Thyme honey-myrtle

Family

Myrtaceae

Where found

Damp places in heath and shrubland, and swamp margins. Mainly coast, ranges, and the easern edge of the tablelands, north of Bawley Point.

Notes

Shrub to 2 m tall. Bark corky. Leaves aromatic when rubbed, opposite or nearly opposite each other, mostly 1-1.5 cm long, 1-3 mm wide, tips pointed, surfaces hairless. Flower heads to 20 mm long, few-flowered, pink to deep mauve. Individual flowers with 5 petals, each 4-5 mm long. Stamens much longer. Flowers Summer.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Melaleuca~thymifolia  (accessed 24 January, 2021)