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botanical glossary
Blue Mountains Wildflowers
Eucalypts & Tea‑trees
members of the Myrtaceae family
(eucalypts, tea-trees and bottlebrushes)

We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which these plants grow - the Darug and Gundungurra people - and pay respect to their Elders past, present and emerging.


Blue Mountains Ash Blue Mountains Ash  (Eucalyptus oreades)
There's over 180 species of the Myrtaceae family in the Blue Mountains.

The most prolific genus is the eucalypt or gum tree which has around 100 species. The number of eucalypts commonly includes the Angophora, Corymbia and Eucalyptus genera. Ian Brown's Eucalypts of the Greater Blue Mountains provides an excellent overview.

Next is the Leptospermum genus (tea-trees) with over 20 species.

In 2000 the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area (GBMWHA) was inscribed on the World Heritage list due to its biodiversity - especially its number of eucalypt species.

You will find more information about the GBMWHA here.

Eucalypts have the distinction of giving the Blue Mountains its colour and therefore its name. The blue hue of distant hills is caused by fine droplets of eucalyptus oil in the air.


Our Eucalypt Showcase

common name index


botanical name index

Eucalyptus genus

Scribbly Gum
Scribbly Gum
Eucalyptus racemosa
This species of the unmistakable Scribbly Gum is common in the Blue Mountains.
Here's an image of its distinctive bark and another. The scribbles are made by the Scribbly Gum Moth.
Silver-top Ash
Silver-top Ash
Eucalyptus sieberi
Identified by its red branchlets and the veins of its leaves, this spring flowering eucalypt also has a purple ring around the edge of each flower.
Here's an image of its gum nuts.
Blue Mountains Ash
Blue Mountains Ash
Eucalyptus oreades
Magnificent! Its tall white trunk identifies it - together with the strips of bark around its base.
A photo can't capture its grandeur.
Here's an image showing its base.
Leptospermum genus (tea trees)

Woolly Tea-tree
Woolly Tea-tree
Leptospermum lanigerum
Very similar description to L. grandifolium. However, I believe the specimen shown here is L. lanigerum due to its very silky sepals and shorter leaves - many less than 10mm.
Pink Tea-tree
Pink Tea-tree
Leptospermum squarrosum
Similar in description to several species, but its larger flowers (up to 20mm) differentiates it.
It also flowers in Autumn, which helps identify it. But to confuse matters, it also flowers in Spring.
Tantoon
Tantoon
Leptospermum polygalifolium
Also known as the Lemon-scented Tea-tree due to the lemony fragrance of its crushed leaves.
Oil dots can be readily seen on its leaves.
It produces a mass of flowers in early summer.
Woolly Tea-tree
Paperbark Tea-tree
Leptospermum trinervium
Characterised by its paperbark bark, it's a small tree that flowers in late spring/early summer.
The flowers are 10-15mm across.
Here's another image that shows its pubescent (soft covering of soft weak hairs) new growth - both branches and leaves.
Prickly Tea-tree
Prickly Tea-tree
Leptospermum juniperinum
This shrub is identified by its prickly leaves - its new growth is not prickly and has long appressed hairs.
The leaves and flowers are held very tightly to the branches - as this image shows.
The 10mm flowers appear in late spring.
Spider Tea-tree
Spider Tea-tree
Leptospermum arachnoides
Being prickly it can be confused with L. juniperinum, however there are several marked distinctions -
◊  it has rough bark;
◊   leaves are occasionally twisted;
◊  each flower is at the end of a branchlet, and has a rosette of leaves.
Small Leaf Tea-tree
Small Leaf Tea-tree
Leptospermum parvifolium
A small variety of tea-tree (up to 2m high) whose leaves are less than 1cm long and whose petals are barely 5mm.
Genus Callistemon

There are eleven Callistemon species in the Blue Mountains and eleven Melaleuca species. Botanists are divided on whether these two genera should be combined into one genus.

Crimson Bottlebrush
Crimson Bottlebrush
Callistemon citrinus
While many bottlebrush species in the Blue Mountains are a creamy colour, the brilliant red of this species makes it a stand-out. Its crushed leaves have a lemony fragrance.
Megalong Valley Bottlebrush
Megalong Valley Bottlebrush
Callistemon megalongensis
This endangered species is only found in the Megalong Valley. Its pink colour helps identify it.
Here's another image.
Lemon Bottlebrush
Lemon Bottlebrush
Callistemon pallidus
The Lemon Bottlebrush's leaves are covered in oil glands and have a pungent tip (mucro).
Its new growth is silvery-pink.
Here's another image.
Willow Bottlebrush
Willow Bottlebrush
Callistemon salignus
The Willow Bottlebrush has a paperbark trunk and its new growth is purplish.
Its leaves are alternate and they have faint but distinctive veins.
Here's another image and another.
Pink Buttons
Genus Kunzea

Kunzeas are distinguished from Tea Trees by the long style coming from the centre of the flower.

There's six species of the Kunzea genus in the Blue Mountains.

PlantNet mentions that hybrids may occur, and probable hybrids have been found that involve the three species below.

Pink Buttons
Pink Buttons
Kunzea capitata subsp. seminuda
Pink Buttons is distinguished from the Violet Kunzea by its longer leaves - 4-9mm versus 1-4mm. Its leaves are also not as appressed.
Here's another image and another.
Here's a white form.
Tick Bush
Tick Bush
Kunzea ambigua
The Tick Bush's white flowers along its branches identifies it.
At up to 3.5m high, it is taller than other Blue Mountains Kunzeas.
Here's another image.
Violet Kunzea
Violet Kunzea
Kunzea parvifolia
The Violet Kunzea's small appressed leaves helps identify it.
Here's another image.
other species in the Myrtaceae family

Common Fringe-myrtle
Common Fringe-myrtle
Calytrix tetragona
The thread coming from the tip of each of the five sepals is known as an awn. The petals are about 5mm in length.
This is the only Calytrix species found in the greater Blue Mountains and its form can vary.
Darwinia taxifolia
Darwinia taxifolia
Darwinia taxifolia
The two patches of Darwinia taxifolia I have found in the upper Blue Mountains, are on the most exposed terrain possible.
This hardy plant flowers in winter and spring.
Weeping Baeckea
Weeping Baeckea
Baeckea linifolia
The 5mm wide flowers appear in summer.
The shrub is up to 2 metres high and its weeping form distinguishes it.
Here's another image.
Turpentine
Turpentine
Syncarpia glomulifera
Looks like a eucalypt except for its distinctive leaves.
Turpentine piles were used in the wharves of Sydney and London.
Here's another image.
Heath Myrtle
Heath Myrtle
Baeckea imbricata
Its 3-5mm circular leaves and 5-7 stamens distinguish it from B. brevifolia which has narrower leaves and 10+ stamens.
Here's another image.
Water Gum
Water Gum
Tristania neriifolia
The 15mm wide bright yellow flowers and dark green lance shaped leaves helps identify the Water Gum.
The underneath of the leaves is much lighter. The Water Gum grows along side streams.
Here's another image.
Rosy Baeckea
Rosy Baeckea
Euryomyrtus ramosissima subsp. ramosissima
This small plant was formerly Baeckea ramosissima, its white to deep pink round petals are 4mm across.
Its appressed leaves and long flower stalk helps identify it.
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