Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Prostanthera saxicola

Flowering stem and leafy stem (var. bracteolata). Photographer Jeff Jeanes, © 2021 Royal Botanic Gardens Board, Melbourne, Vic

Flowering stems (var. bracteolata). Photographer Ilma Dunn, © 2021 Royal Botanic Gardens Board, Melbourne, Vic

Line drawings (var. bracteolata). d. flowering branchlet; leaf. P Strickland, National Herbarium of Victoria, © 2021 Royal Botanic Gardens Board

Flowers (var. montana). Australian Plant Image Index, photographer K Thaler,  Australian National Botanic Gardens, Canberra, ACT

Flowering branches (var. montana). Photographer Don Wood, Morton National Park

Shrub (var. montana). Australian Plant Image Index, photographer K Thaler,  Australian National Botanic Gardens, Canberra, ACT

Common name

Slender Mint-bush (var. bracteolata  in Vic.)

Family

Lamiaceae

Where found

Forest, woodland, and heath, shrubland, rocky ridges, and moist sites. Coast, ranges and eastern edge of the tablelands, mainly north from west of Ulladulla. Occasionally elsewhere.

var. bracteolata: Mainly north of the area covered by this key. Kanangra Boyd National Park. Ingalba Nature Reserve west and south of Temora.

var. montana: Ranges and eastern edge of the tablelands north from west of Ulladulla

var. saxicola: Coast, ranges, and the eastern edge of the tablelands, north from Jervis Bay.

Notes

Shrub to 2 m high, erect to prostrate. Branches sometimes longitudinally ridged, hairless to moderately hairy with white appressed hairs and more or less stalkless glands. Leaves sometimes aromatic when rubbed. Leaves crowded or scattered along the stems; 0.3–1.5 cm long, 0.5–6 mm wide, flat in cross section to more or less cylindrical; tips blunt; base more or less continuing down the stems; margins entire, surfaces hairless to sparsely covered with white appressed hairs and more or less stalkless glands. Flowers white to mauve, occasionally bluish, sometimes with purple stripes in the throat, 8–12 mm long, with a bell-shaped tube, 2-lipped, the upper lip notched to 2-lobed, the lower lip 3-lobed. Calyx 2-lobed. Flowers single at the base of paired leaves, in leafy clusters. Flowering: July–February.

Endangered population in Sutherland and Liverpool local government areas. Provisions of the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 No 63 relating to the protection of protected plants generally also apply to plants that are a threatened species or a part of a threatened ecological community.

At the time of the Final Determination of listing as a Threatened Population, due to complex morphological variations, it was not possible to attribute individuals of that population to a particular variety.

NSW Threatened Species profile:  http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/threatenedSpeciesApp/profile.aspx?id=20277  (accessed 7 January 2021)

var. bracteolata:  Erect to prostrate shrub 0.1–2 m high, often spindly, with intertwined branches. Branches sparsely to moderately hairy. Leaves scattered along the stems, 0.5–0.9 cm long, 0.5–2 mm wide, length 4.5–10 times breadth, margins curved or rolled upwards. Flowers white to pale mauve or bluish, 8–10 mm long. Bracteoles below the flowers 1.6–3 mm long.

Rare Vic.

var. montana:  Low sprawling shrub, 0.2–1 m high, 0.4–1 m diameter, much-branched, usually non-aromatic. Branches hairless or moderately hairy in broad lines below the leaf bases (which continue down the stems), often purplish. Leaves crowded, often purplish along the margins, slightly leathery; 0.6–1.5 cm long, 2–6 mm wide; length 2.2–3.7 times breadth; margins flat or occasionally slightly curved upwards. Flowers white with purple stripes in the throat, 10–12 mm long. Bracteoles below the flowers bristly, about 0.5 mm long.

var. saxicola:  Prostrate to erect slender shrub 0.1–0.8 m high, usually much-branched. Branches sparsely to moderately hairy, often purplish. Leaves scattered along the stems, 0.3–0.7 cm long, 1–2 mm wide, length 2.2–3.7 times breadth; margins flat or occasionally slightly curved upwards, light green, often tinged with purple. Flowers mauve, 8–12 mm long. Bracteoles below the flowers 1–2 mm long.

PlantNET description of species and key to varieties:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Prostanthera~saxicola (accessed 7 January 2021)