More Coastal Plants

MORE COASTAL PLANTS - part two
Horticultural information courtesy of Launceston Field Naturalist Club

LEUCOPOGON ERICOIDES Epacridaceae

A bushy shrub to 1 metre with long strong upright shoots, leaves linear-oblong, 1 cm long 2.5 mm wide, shortly stalked, margins strongly recurved, leaf apex abruptly pointed with a
short hard point. Flowers in short dense axillary spikes along great lengths of stem (15-20 cm). Bracts and sepals finely hairy, sepals and buds pinkish, flowers white, tubular with
spreading bearded lobes narrower than the tufts of hairs; anthers near throat of the tube.
Fruit a greenish-black drupe, scarcely succulent. A robust form on the west coast in wet heaths has much longer, wider leaves up to 4 mm wide.
Flowering spring. Widespread, abundant in sandy and peaty heaths. (Tas. Vic. NSW, Qld. SA)

Photo: Phil Collier, APS

LASIOPETALUM BAUERI Sterculiaceae
Slender Velvet Bush

Small coastal shrub of very local distribution in three widely separated areas in the north of Tasmania. Leaves narrow-elliptical, blunt, stalked, pale grey-green with a dense covering of very short stellate hairs except on upper surfaces of the older leaves, upper surface has mid-rib impressed. Flowers stalked; stems, stalks and flowers covered with brown, yellow or white stellate hairs. Sepals pink or white, petals minute, stamens oblong, red, massed together in centre of the flower forming a red waxy five-armed star.
Flowering in spring. (Tas. Vic, NSW. SA)

Photo: Duncan Wade, APS

Shrub to about 3 metres with many large white flowers; separate male and female flowers on same plant. Leaves narrow, 2-3 cm long, 1-3 mm wide, upper surface hairlesss, margins recurved. Flowers stalked, 2-3 cm across, white, 4-6 petals. Male flowers more
conspicuous than female, many stamens, joined in a central mass. Female flowers smaller, ovary covered with projections which become long, red and leathery in fruit. Ripe fruit spherical, 12 mm in diameter, bursting into three parts. Seeds mottled brown, 5 mm long with a fleshy white swollen knob at one end. Flowering spring-summer. North-east coastal heaths. (Tas. Vic. NSW. Qld)
Photo: Duncan Wade, APS

RICINOCARPOS PINIFOLIUS
Euphorbiaceae Wedding Bush

Ricinocarpos pinifolius

OZOTHAMNUS RETICULATUS Asteraceae

Ozothamnus reticulatus

A sturdy shrub with narrow-linear stalked leaves, dark green and wrinkled above, white underneath. Branches with dense white tomentum (fur). Flower heads white, nearly globose, 5-7 mm across, in flat or domed heads 5-6 cm in diameter. Buds and outer bracts of flower covered with white tomentum. Pappus (the ring of hairs which make up the parachute on daisies) with flattened minutely hairy tips. Flowering January. Coastal cliffs, rocky parts of sandy coasts, less common in north.
(Tas Endemic)

Photo: Heather Gulline, APS

ASTROLOMA PINIFOLIUM Epacridaceae Pine Heath

A small heath-like bushy shrub to about 45 cm high with numerous branches densely clothed with narrow leaves 12-25 mm long, 1-2 mm wide, needle-like with recurved
margins, often pressed upward and erect on the last two season's growth, lower parts of the stem almost bare.
Flowers: long yellow tubular bells, 15-18 mm long constricted at the throat, the free tips of the petals densely bearded on inner surface and curved back and develop on short stalks at the base of the previous season's growth. The fruit has a green fleshy layer over a hard stone.
Flowering season:
September - March

Propagation from cuttings, or seed which is very slow to germinate.
Distribution: sandy heathland in the north and east. and inland sites in south-east Tasmania. Also occurs in Vic and NSW