AusBonsai

Hi all,

Yesterday I enjoyed participating as a seller at the YVBS sale day. It was an excellent day - best of all catching up with some folk that I hadn’t seen in over a year.

Stock moved fast for everyone and I was pleased to move on a heap of stuff too - I hope those who purchased were happy with their bounty. Anyway, I babble...

I only purchased one little tree - just to have a play - I wired a reasonably “formulaic” cascade over a coffee.


Can anyone ID this little native for me please?


I might remove more of the right hand side in due course.


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Are the leaves a little bit prickly?

I have checked my field guide to Melaleuca for you. Maybe M. diosmifolia, or M. depressa? Are there leaf veins at all? Any chance of a closeup of the top and underside of a leaf?

Edited to add:
If there are leaf veins, it could be M. squarrosa.

Hi Watto and Red,

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

Watto - no, I wouldn’t say they are prickly - they are reasonably hard - it’s certainly not a soft leaf
but I would not say prickly - I could squash a cut branch in my hand and not feel any prickly sensation.

Red, I’ll try and take a better photo but it’s hard without a macro lens actually. These leaves are tiny - 3mm and there does not seem to be any veins nor difference in the underside to the top?


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Looks like Leptospermum rotundifolium from here.
There is a cultivar called 'Julie Ann' that is prostrate like this but usually very slow growing here.
You may have to wait for flowers in spring for confirmation of ID.

Thanks Neil, geez I hope it’s that! Will make for a dazzling cascade but alas, if it’s a lepto- I’ve killed it by owning it! Can’t keep the lepto’s alive and I bet I’ve disturbed to much of root ball already.

Oh well, $20 bucks.... I’ll still be able to eat if I do kill it!


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Agree with Neil - it looks like L. rotundifolium. Hope it flowers for you. Mine flowered last year, so this is what the flowers look like viewtopic.php?p=283881#p283881

Thanks Terry, I hope it survives and flowers - quite beautiful.


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I’ve grown L. Rotundifolium as well, and it would be the closest I’ve seen to a match too.
The foliage is cool if it is. It’s what attracted me to them.

I’ve grown Mel squarrosa and it has lovely papery bark...this doesn’t.

MJL wrote: ↑February 28th, 2021, 5:25 pm Thanks Neil, geez I hope it’s that! Will make for a dazzling cascade but alas, if it’s a lepto- I’ve killed it by owning it! Can’t keep the lepto’s alive and I bet I’ve disturbed to much of root ball already.

Don't write it off too quickly; I can't speak for rotundifolium but I've mercilessly hacked at the roots of some leptos and they haven't even flinched (lanigerum and polygalifolium come to mind). I've also sent more than one other species to the green bin but let's not focus on those.