Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Myrsine variabilis
Common name
Muttonwood
Family
Primulaceae
Where found
Forest, shrubland, exposed situations on the coast, and near streams and mangrove swamps. Coast and ranges north from near Batemans Bay. Rarely farther south.
Notes
Shrub or tree to 13 m high, often mustistemmed from suckers if the roots are damaged. Fruit fleshy. Leaves, especially juvenile leaves, often with prominent more or less prickly teeth. Bark cream to greyish brown, smooth or becoming rough and corky. Young stems hairy, soon becoming hairless. Buds at the tips of the stems densely hairy with fawn to brown hairs. Leaves alternating up the stems, 3–14 cm long, 10–45 mm wide, margins entire or with prominent stiff, almost prickly, teeth, especially in juvenile leaves, upper surface shiny green, lower surface duller,veins more or less equally distinct on both surfaces, tips rounded or barely pointed, leaf stalks 3–7 mm long. Flowers appear bisexual, though functioning as male and female flowers on different plants. Flowers white or cream to pale yellow, 1.5-3.5 mm long, tubular, with 4-5 erect lobes. Flowers in clusters of 4–9 flowers, appearing many-flowered. Flowers mainly May to September. Fruit fleshy, blue to purple when ripe, 4–6 mm in diameter.
Family was Myrsinaceae.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Myrsine~variabilis (accessed 28 January, 2021)
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