Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Polygala myrtifolia
Common name
Myrtle-leaf milkwort
Family
Polygalaceae
Where found
Woodland, shrubland, grassy areas, roadsides, coastal environs, and along streams. Coastal. Ranges north of the area covered by this key.
Notes
Introduced shrub, to about 4 m high. Stems hairless or sparsely hairy with fine curled hairs. Leaves alternating up the stems, 1–5 cm long, 4–20 mm wide, tips blunt to shallowly notched, surfaces hairless to sparsely hairy. Flowers purple to mauve or bright pink, with 3 petals in the middle of the flower, the largest looking like the keel of a pea flower, with 2 finely-branched structures 4–6 mm long at its tip, and 2 coloured sepals that look like the wings of pea flower, each 10–18 mm long. Wing sepals green on the outside, purple to mauve or bright pink within. Keel white or pale mauve, with a maroon blotch at the tip. Flowers in shortly elongated clusters 1–5 cm long. Flowering: throughout the year, mostly September–October.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Polygala~myrtifolia (accessed 1 February, 2021)
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