Prickly tea-tree

Appearance

''Leptospermum juniperinum'' is a broom-like shrub that typically grows to a height of 2–3 m and has thin, rough bark. The leaves are narrow elliptical or narrow lance-shaped, 5–15 mm long and 1–2 mm wide with a sharply pointed tip. The flowers are usually borne singly on short side shoots and are 6–10 mm wide on a pedicel less than 1 mm long. The floral cup is 1.5–2 mm long, the sepals broadly egg-shaped and about 1.6 mm long, the petals often about 3.5 mm long and the stamens 1–1.5 mm long. Flowering mostly occurs from November to December and the fruit is a capsule usually less than 7 mm wide and that is not shed when mature.

Distribution

Prickly tea-tree grows in near-coastal swamps, heath and sedgeland and on sandstone cliffs between Fraser Island in Queensland and Ulladulla in New South Wales.

Habitat

Prickly tea-tree grows in near-coastal swamps, heath and sedgeland and on sandstone cliffs between Fraser Island in Queensland and Ulladulla in New South Wales.