THYMELAEACEAE

Common or Dwarf Rice-flower

 

0.3m (30cm) 

Heads many-flowered, white tubular at ends of branches, outside covered with short hairs. 

Berries or drupes 

Small, tufted, many erect branches. Leaves 1cm, dark green, in opposite pairs. 

Break O'Day; Brighton; Burnie; Central Highlands; Clarence; Derwent Valley; Devonport; Dorset; Georgetown; Glamorgan-Spring Bay; Glenorchy; Hobart; Kentish; Kingborough; Latrobe; Launceston; Meander Valley; Northern Midlands; Sorell; Southern Midlands; Tasman; Waratah-Wynyard; West Coast; West Tamar 

Dry Eucalypt Forest and Woodland 

Widespread in sclerophyll forests & fairly dry places. 

Dry; Dry 

Moderate 

Fertile; Loam; Phosphorous intolerant; Well-drained 

Resistant to Phytophthora cinnamomi. Flowers attract nectar seeking butterflies on sunny days. Found in a variety of soil types and adapts very well to cultivation. Likes moderately well-drained soil, sunny or semi-shaded site, is hardy to most frosts and withstands extended dry periods. Plants respond well to pruning and mature plants can be sheared hard to rejuvenate them. Suitable below powerlines. 

Pointed dry fruit. seed releases very quickly when ripe especially in hot weather. allow fruit to mature in warm place, rub over screens to remove outer covering 

 

 

 

Difficult to grow from seed. Smoke treatment not effective for humilis species. Erratic success with burning of twigs & leaf litter on top of seed. May respond to combined heat & smoke treatment. 

 

 

 

 

No 

Usually grown from cuttings of barely firm young growth which strike readily. Care should be taken not to strip back the young bark. Young sucker growth is ideal for cuttings.