Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Philotheca scabra
Common name
A Waxflower
Family
Rutaceae
Where found
Dry forest, heath, and moist gullies. Coast and ranges, from Sydney to the Nerriga district and south towards the Kings Highway.
subsp. latifolia: Bundanoon to the Nerriga district and south towards the Kings Highway.
subsp. scabra: Sydney to the Nowra district.
Notes
Shrub to 0.6 m high. Branchlets cylindrical, more or less bristly, often warty. Leaves aromatic when rubbed, alternating up the stems, 1–2.5 cm long, 1–5 mm wide, tips pointed and mucronate, surfaces sparsely bristly or hairless, upper surface smooth, lower surface warty. Flowers white to pink, with 5 petals each 7–8 mm long. Stamens free from each other, the filaments usually hairy from the base, sometimes cohering by intertwined hairs. Flowers single. Flowering: Spring.
Intergrades with Philotheca buxifolia and with Philotheca myoporoides.
Protected NSW.
subsp. latifolia: Stems markedly warty, and covered with minute bristles to hairless. Leaves 1.5–5 mm wide, flattish, concave above, slightly warty, hairless or with sparse short bristles.
subsp. scabra: Stems not warty, and finely bristly. Leaves more or less cylindrical due being folded lengthwise, 1–2 mm wide, more or less bristly.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Philotheca~scabra (accessed 17 January, 2021)
This identification key and fact sheets are available as a free mobile application:
