Leaves alternate, often small and ± rigid, margins entire; often aromatic when crushed, occasionally lemon-scented; sessile to shortly petiolate.
Flowers solitary, sessile in axils of bracts on condensed shoots. Flowers 5-merous. Hypanthium obtuse or tapered at the base, glabrous, villous or silky appressed-hairy. Sepals imbricate, persistent or deciduous. Petals spreading, white, pink or red, not persistent. Stamens numerous, usually shorter than petals, in 5 bundles opposite the petals but appearing free; anthers opening by slits, with a gland near the connective. Ovary 5-locular; placentation axile and usually just above the middle of the central axis; ovules few to numerous; style simple, usually with the base inset; stigma entire or ± lobed.
Fruit a rigid or woody capsule, summit domed, opening with 5 woody valves; seeds irregularly linear and striate. Fruit of most species remaining on the plant for some years.
Key edited by Peter G. Wilson and Kerry Gibbons 21 Jul. 2020. Please let us know via the 'contact us' link on the green banner above if you notice any problems with this key.
| | Key to the species | |
| 1 | Sepals developing a line of dehiscence and falling, though tardily so in a few species; stem flanges present or absent | 2 |
| Sepals persistent; stem flanges absent | 21 |
| 2 | Hypanthium with a tapered base and pedicel often 3–4 mm long; leaves usually 20–30 mm long and 3–7 mm wide, apex retuse | Leptospermum emarginatum |
| Hypanthium base broad or if narrowed pedicel c. 1 mm long; leaves various
Back to 1 | 3 |
| 3 | Leaves incurved in cross section and pungent-pointed; style stout and straight-sided with a characteristic relatively large flat stigma | 4 |
| Leaves not both incurved and pungent-pointed, or if so then style tapering and stigma not relatively large
Back to 2 | 8 |
| 4 | Leaves mostly spreading | 5 |
| Leaves erect and rather dense, giving a broom-like appearance to the plant
Back to 3 | 7 |
| 5 | Flowers usually c. 10 mm diam., usually white; produced on new growth; hypanthium tapering near base | 6 |
| Flowers variable, usually 10–20 mm diam., sometimes shorter or longer, often pink; produced on short shoots from older branches; hypanthium rounded at base
Back to 4 | Leptospermum squarrosum |
| 6 | Most leaves >3 mm wide, broadest below the middle and tapering above and below; fruit 6–9 mm diam. | Leptospermum scoparium |
| Most leaves <3 mm wide, broadest at base and tapering upward; fruit 5–7 mm diam.
Back to 5 | Leptospermum continentale |
| 7 | Short and robust shrubs with flowers 10–12 mm diam.; fruit 6–10 mm diam. | Leptospermum rupicola |
| Tall slender shrubs with flowers 6–10 mm diam.; fruit rarely >7 mm diam.
Back to 4 | Leptospermum juniperinum |
| 8 | Anther loculi long and not opening wide | 9 |
| Anther loculi broader than long when open, and opening wide
Back to 3 | 12 |
| 9 | Flowers c. 8 mm diam.; stamens longer than the short petals; leaves dense, obovate and thick, mostly 2–4 mm long, glossy | Leptospermum minutifolium |
| Flowers c. 10 mm or more diam.; stamens shorter than the petals; leaves various but usually >5 mm long and not glossy
Back to 8 | 10 |
| 10 | Bark lifting and flaking; leaves variable but often thick with the surface at least somewhat (often strongly so), incurved in cross section, the apex tapering, acute or acuminate, usually pungent; anther loculi usually parallel | Leptospermum novae-angliae |
| Bark fibrous and ± compact; leaves flat or with the margins somewhat recurved, the apex broad- to narrow-acute or blunt or bluntly rounded, rarely pungent-pointed; anther loculi usually divergent
Back to 9 | 11 |
| 11 | Flowers usually c. 15 mm diam.; leaves mostly 15–35 mm long and 2–8 mm wide, usually with 3 conspicuous longitudinal veins and aromatic | Leptospermum morrisonii |
| Flowers usually c. 10 mm diam.; leaves various but rarely >20 mm long and usually 2–3 mm wide, neither conspicuously 3-veined nor aromatic
Back to 10 | Leptospermum polygalifolium |
| 12 | Fruit much broader than long, with a wide woody rim; leaves dense, usually 5–7 mm long and 1–2 mm wide, lemon-scented | Leptospermum liversidgei |
| Fruit and leaves not as above
Back to 8 | 13 |
| 13 | Bark loosely fibrous, `stringy'; leaves narrow-elliptic to lanceolate, 20–40 mm long and 2–5 mm wide, acute, rounded or retuse and often lemon-scented | Leptospermum petersonii |
| Bark various; leaves various, never lemon-scented
Back to 12 | 14 |
| 14 | Leaves, at least most of them, with a distinct though often short petiole, the apex usually broad, the size and shape various, glabrous or pubescent | 15 |
| Leaves sessile, tapering to the apex, 10–20 mm long, 2–8 mm wide, obovate to oblanceolate to elliptic, glabrous
Back to 13 | 20 |
| 15 | Stamens 4–6 mm long; flowers often pink, usually 20–30 mm diam.; leaves mostly ± circular | Leptospermum rotundifolium |
| Stamens <3.5 mm long; flowers white or almost so, ≤15 mm diam.; leaf shape various
Back to 14 | 16 |
| 16 | Sepals glabrous or with ciliate margins; leaves green and glabrous at least for the most part | 17 |
| Sepals pubescent, at least in part; leaves grey-green and pubescent or ultimately green and glabrous, the young growth grey with a silvery pubescence
Back to 15 | 18 |
| 17 | Stems branching at c. 30°; leaves narrow-oblanceolate to very broad-obovate, apex usually retuse; fruit rounded above a short stalk | Leptospermum obovatum |
| Stems branching at 60° or more; leaves obovate to almost circular, apex usually broadly rounded; fruit base rounded or turbinate
Back to 16 | Leptospermum micromyrtus |
| 18 | Fruit almost globose before opening; stem flanges inconspicuous; leaves mostly obovate, 5–10 mm long and 2–5 mm wide | Leptospermum myrtifolium |
| Fruit broader than long; stem flanges conspicuous; leaves mostly obovate to oblanceolate or broad-obovate to elliptic
Back to 16 | 19 |
| 19 | Hypanthium conspicuously flared in the upper part; leaves very broad-obovate to elliptic, ultimately glabrous but greyish silky on young growth | Leptospermum argenteum |
| Hypanthium not conspicuously flared in the upper part; leaves obovate to oblanceolate, pubescence of young growth soon giving way to short irregular hairs
Back to 18 | Leptospermum gregarium |
| 20 | Stamens c. 2 mm long, style base arising from the surface of the fruit top; leaves thick, with dense prominent glands | Leptospermum sejunctum |
| Stamens 3–4 mm long; style base inset in the fruit top; leaf texture variable
Back to 14 | Leptospermum variabile |
| 21 | Stamens only about half as long as the petals or shorter; seed ≤3 mm long | 22 |
| All stamens more than half as long as the petals; seeds ≥3.5 mm long
Back to 1 | 29 |
| 22 | Fruit valves (at opening) not conspicuously exserted | 23 |
| Fruit valves conspicuously exserted
Back to 21 | 24 |
| 23 | Branches at angles of 60–90°; sepals triangular; leaves incurved from the margins, usually 10–20 mm long and mostly 1–3 mm wide (breadth variable but often uniform within the population), and with a long-tapering pungent-pointed apex | Leptospermum arachnoides |
| Branches at angles of c. 30°; sepals short with the apex broadly rounded; leaves usually flat or with the margins recurved, 10–15 mm long, 4–6 mm wide, the apex blunt or shortly pungent
Back to 22 | Leptospermum thompsonii |
| 24 | Leaves not glossy on both surfaces; if glossy on the upper surface, dull or pubescent below | 25 |
| Leaves glossy on both surfaces
Back to 22 | 27 |
| 25 | Fruit with a distinct short stalk, surface of the valves firm and wrinkled; leaves variable, to 30 mm long, c. 6 mm wide, elliptic, with margins recurved and a densely pubescent lower surface | Leptospermum deuense |
| Fruit sessile, the valve surface lifting and ± flaky; leaves various
Back to 24 | 26 |
| 26 | Bark compact; leaves broadest near, and contracting at, the apex; from 3–15 mm long and usually 2–4 mm wide, usually grey-green, narrow and pubescent on both surfaces | Leptospermum lanigerum |
| Bark peeling; leaves broadest near the middle or if near the apex then tapering to the apex, not grey-green, often broad with the upper surface glossy and the lower shortly pubescent, or narrow, equal sided and glabrous, or with other combinations of these characters
Back to 25 | Leptospermum grandifolium |
| 27 | Apex of leaves acute and pungent; leaves variable in size but usually c. 15 mm long and 5–6 mm wide | Leptospermum petraeum |
| Apex of leaves not pungent, obtuse to acute; leaves 2–8 mm long, 2–4 mm wide
Back to 24 | 28 |
| 28 | Leaves mostly 5–8 mm long, sometimes 5 mm or less, and 3–4 mm wide, apex ± acute; flowers c. 20 mm diam. | Leptospermum crassifolium |
| Leaves 2–3 mm long and c. 2 mm wide, apex obtuse; flowers c. 10 mm diam.
Back to 27 | Leptospermum epacridoideum |
| 29 | Fruit as long as broad, <15 mm diam.; leaves 5–35 mm long, broad- to narrow-elliptic and 2–5 mm wide, apex acute to acuminate | 30 |
| Fruit broader than long, often 15–20 mm diam.; leaves mostly 10–20 mm long and 5–10 mm wide, usually broad-elliptic, apex obtuse or acute with a short stiff point
Back to 21 | Leptospermum macrocarpum |
| 30 | Leaves mostly 5–20 mm long, 2–5 mm wide, broad- to narrow-elliptic, apex acute or long-acute and pungent; flowers white or pink | Leptospermum sphaerocarpum |
| Leaves mostly 20–35 mm long, 3–5 mm wide, narrow-elliptic, apex long-acute or long-acuminate and stiffly pointed; flowers red
Back to 29 | Leptospermum spectabile |
