I’d appreciate some help with this one. I asked about a couple of years ago and couldn’t get an answer, but I now have some closer shots of the flowers. It’s a 5 to 6 metre high and wide, gnarled, evergreen shrub or small tree that blooms in early summer. As far as I can tell from the images, the flowers have 5 petals, 10 stamens, 1 carpel and possibly 5 small sepals. The flowers are faintly scented and very attractive to bees, but I’ve never seen fruit on it, so presumably it isn’t self-fertile. I know it’s not very scientific, but it has the feel of something Mediterranean or African.
Please can we have more info /help. Leaves...can you add pics of a single leaf..back and front against a white/pale background...... with a ruler to give scale. Flowers are they day or night scented? Bark...what does that look like? I know it’s not very scientific, but to me it has the feel of something from Australia!
Regrettably, it's a few hundred kilometres away in Timaru, NZ. However, the image below, cropped from a larger photo, gives a pretty good idea of the foliage. The leaves are around 40-50mm long, simple, alternate, blunt-tipped and have a prominent midrib. They are only a slightly lighter green on the underside, with no noticeable indumentum, scaling or glands. They are quite dry, with a slightly papery texture. Somewhat reminiscent of Dodonaea viscosa foliage, but a bit smaller and thicker. The flowers are only faintly scented and it may just be the aroma of the nectar. I didn't get a picture of the bark, but it's grey-brown, thick and deeply furrowed. While not actually thorny, the stem tips tend to be leafless and pungent.
What about bay - Laurus nobilis? I have not checked details closely before suggesting this, and I don't have time to do check to see if there is some reason this isn't right.
No, not a bay. Smaller flowers and leaves, and not especially aromatic. I think I would have recognised that one pretty much straight away, but I'm down that way again this weekend and will crush a few leaves just to make sure.
OK, here is another it reminds me of - Harpullia. Oops - edited, ignore this. Harpullia have compound leaves. Sorry.
My initial thought is that it's in family Oleaceae . As it has 5 petals, I'm clearly wrong. It'll be easier once you work out what family it is in.
Been looking ...might it be Backhousia citriodora (common names lemon myrtle, lemon scented myrtle, lemon scented ironwood) is a flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae, This plant is attractive to bees, butterflies and/or birds. Flowers are fragrant. "The very attractive white flowers are numerous and produced in long-stalked clusters. The outer part of an individual flower consists of a bell-shaped hairy receptacle with 5 persistent spreading calyx lobes. These are surmounted by 5 small petals about 5 mm long and numerous fluffy stamens which are twice as long as the petals." Stamen seem to fall off quite quickly. APII database extract: photo_class = 'dig' and photo_no = '14284' Backhousia citriodora - Bing images Backhousia citriodora 7 Backhousia citriodora - Growing Native Plants PlantFiles: Lemon-scented Myrtle, Sweet Verbena Tree, Lemon Ironwood Backhousia citriodora - Wikipedia
Thanks for the suggestion. Regrettably, that's not it, though. I'm familiar with Backhousia and it's really quite different.
I'm actually in front of the tree right now and I'm wondering if it might be a Maytenus. It's not boaria but might be another species.
No, I'm familiar with both of those, and my thought that might be a Maytenus seems increasingly unlikely. Still, I like a good mystery.
Not getting anywhere fast with this. May I ask you to watch for seed pods/fruits after flowers. Maybe that will help someone here.
Could you say what is making it not seem to fit Maytenus? It does seem in your photo that there are separate male and female flowers; that was not the case in the one good flower photo I found, which had perfect flowers, none with 10 stamens. I was so sure it was going to be in the Lauraceae family, but I see that generally those flowers have 6 perianth segments, except that Laurus seem to have four. 5 petals/10 stamens does not seem to be a Lauraceae characteristic.
Looks like a Sapindus. Also vaguely reminds me of Schinus terebinthifolius and other plants in the Anacardiaceae.
I've been away for a few days and haven't seen these latest posts. Schinus longifolia looks to be a pretty good fit. I haven't seen it fruit, though, which is a bit unusual as both Schinus molle and Schinus terebinthifolius fruit well here. But then maybe it's not self-fertile and maybe I've just missed it. Anyhow, I'm happy to go with Schinus longifolia. Thank you to all.
