Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Micrantheum hexandrum

Male flowers and leaves. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, Australian National Botanic Gardens, Canberra, ACT

Female flower and leaves. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, Eurobodalla Regional Botanic Gardens, north of Moruya

Seed cases 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

Line drawings. a. flowering branch; leaf; male flower; seed case. E Mayfield, National Herbarium of Victoria, © 2021 Royal Botanic Gardens Board

Common name

Box micrantheum

Family

Where found

Forest, disturbed sites, rocky outcrops, and along streams. Coastal north from Jervis Bay. Western Slopes south and east of the Hume Highway. Widespread elsewhere. 

Notes

Shrub to 3 m high. More or less hairless, branches sometimes hairy. Leaves in clusters of 2-5, usually in 3s, the clusters alternating up the stems, 0.8–2 cm long, 2–4 mm wide, margins flat, surfaces hairless, tips with a short mucro. Male and female flowers on the same plant. Flowers with 4 or 6 'petals'. Male 'petals' 1-3 mm long; female 'petals' 3–5 mm long. Male flowers with 6 to 9 stamens. Flowers 1–3 together at the bases of the leaves, forming leafy clusters. Flowering: spring-summer.

Family was Euphorbiaceae.

All native plants on unleased land in the ACT are protected.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Micrantheum~hexandrum  (accessed 23 January, 2021)