Tips and Advice on Australian Native Plant Species

Syzygium

Northern Gem

Grows well in full sun to light shade and benefits from mulching. Ideal for screening or as a specimen plant.

Compact, dense and bushy shrub to 2m, new growth has fascinating pastel shades ranging from pink, apricot, cream and yellow that drape down. White flowers followed by edible red fruits.

Clerodendrum Nutans

Bridal Veil

Will grow in full sun but prefers a partially shaded position. Responds well to a good prune after flowering — flowers twice a year.

A beautiful, slender, exotic shrub growing to 2m tall. It is evergreen, drought and frost tender. Leaves are softy, hairy and narrowly heart-shaped. Flowers are cream and tubular and hang down resembling a bunch of grapes.

Gingko Biloba

Maidenhair Tree

It’s an interesting tree as a specimen and highly regarded for bonsai culture.

A large tree originating from China. Leaves are light green/grey resembling a maidenhair then they turn golden yellow in autumn. Male and female trees — the latter having a cone with an edible kernel.

Elaeocarpus Eumundi

Eumundi Quandong

Will grow in full sun and tolerates some frost and poor soil. Bird attracting — particularly nectar feeding birds.

Rainforest tree named after Eumundi, where it was first described by early settlers. Fast growing and hardy. Dense crown with new flushes of bronze red leaves. Flowers are cream, very ornamental and perfumed. Fruit is decorative and greenish blue in colour. Also useful as a timber tree.

Syzygium Wilsonii

Powderpuff Lilly Pilly

Prefers semi-shaded position with dappled sunlight but can grow in full sun if mulched well. Bird attracting.

Small rainforest shrub growing 2–3m tall. Endemic to Queensland’s coastal rainforests. Magnificent large burgundy flowers in spring. New growth pink turning to reddish in colour and drooping white clusters of fruit.

Phaleria Clerodendron

Native Daphne

Fast growing and will grow in sun or part shade. Ideally suited to the climate here.

Small rainforest plant from North Queensland growing to 3m high. Has prolific white clusters of perfumed flowers that engulf the trunk and all the branches. This happens several times a year (usually following rain). The sight takes your breath away. Fruit is bright red and eaten by cassowaries in North Queensland. Leaves are dark, glossy green.

Evodiella Muelleri

Little Evodia

It is fast growing, needs good drainage and benefits from mulching. Every garden should have one of these delightful plants growing.

This exquisite shrub / small rainforest tree grows 3–5m tall. It produces lolly pink / white flowers along branches — this often happens twice a year, followed by aromatic seed capsules containing black seeds. It flowers in part shade but prefers full sun for mass flowering. The leaves smell of nutmeg and it is bird and butterfly attracting. They are a food source for the Ulysses butterfly larvae in North Queensland.

Pyrostegia Ignea

Orange Trumpet Vine

Prefers full sun in a well drained soil. Flowers in June.

Majestic creeper with masses of orange tubular flowers in winter. Ideal for covering fences, arches, pergolas and up through tall trees.

Syzygium Cascade

Small Lillypilly

Disease and pest resistant (true story) and ideal as hedging plants or a cascading specimen plant. Strong, hardy and fast growing — will grow happily in full sun or part shade.

Small Lillypilly (height 2/3m) with stunning pink pom pom flowers with gold tips. New leaves are vibrant pink in colour before turning green. Edible pink fruits. ‘Cascade’ is a hybrid between Syzygium Luehmannii and Syzyctium Wilconii. Good food source for birds — particularly honeyeaters — and also butterflies.

Polyscias Nodosa

Noah’s Bass Wood

Easy to grow, they prefer full sun to part shade but don’t like heavy clay soils. Another feature is that they don’t require much water. This small rainforest tree is perfect for narrow spaces as it only grows to 2 m wide.

This is a rare plant from Cape Tribulation in North Queensland — only a pocket of sixty plants remain in the wild. It grows to about six metres in height, with a slender trunk and a decorative crown of palm-like foliage. The long flower spikes are similar to the umbrella tree in shape and form. The flowers are red developing into dark berries, which are very attractive to birds. In larger areas they form an eyecatching feature if grown in a group.

Callistemon

Glasshouse Country

Good as a screen or hedging plant. Prefers full sun to partly shaded position. Will tolerate moderate frost, extended water logging and drought.

Our very own bottlebrush, born and bred here. Evergreen with aromatic leaves and silvery new growth. Masses of soft pink bottlebrush flowers throughout most of the year. Grows 3–5 m tall. Flowers very attractive to nectar feeding birds.

Tacca Integrifolia

White Bat Plant

It’s ideal for sub tropical gardens in morning sun or a dappled canopy. They’re great as pot specimens.

An amazing, exotic plant with large leaves and white flowers that rise above the plant on tall stems. The unusual flowers resemble a bat and have long, white tendrils up to a metre in length. There is also a black form (Tacca Chantrieri).

Mallotus Claoxyloides

Smell Of The Bush or Green Kamala

In cultivation it can be trained into a bushy shrub or small tree. It is hard to propagate but becomes very hardy in dry and frosty conditions.

The strong bush / percolated coffee smell near creeks, can be attributed to this plant. The shrub itself is insignificant and blends into the landscape having rough leaves and small cream flowers. There are male and female plants, both of which flower. It is a native of dry and subtropical rainforest from northern NSW up to the Iron Range on Cape York Peninsula.

Randia Fitzalanii

Native Gardenia

It prefers part shade conditions where it will grow bushy and lush. It will grow large in its natural habitat but 3–6m in garden situations. It’s also good for indoor and outdoor container plants.

This is a beautiful rainforest marginal plant with very fragrant white flowers in spring and large, glossy green leaves. The plant develops large fruit that are yellow turning to dark brown. The pulp is edible and resembles black sapote fruit when ripe.

Backhousia Citriodora

Lemon Scented Myrtle

It’d used more and more in bush tucker foods and is a great mosquito deterrent.

Shrub or bushy tree (3–8 metres high) native to the east coast from Brisbane to Mackay. A beautiful plant that contains citral oil which gives off a powerful scent of lemon — flowers are cream and profuse. Also called ‘Lemon Ironwood’ because of its very hard timber.

Alloxylon Flammeum

Tree Waratah

Very bird attracting. Avoid planting in poorly drained soils — benefits from humus but avoid fertilising with poultry manures.

One of the most beautiful rainforest trees. Glossy green foliage and profuse red flowers when grown in full sun. Flowers in spring and summer. Has very interesting, sought after pink timber.

Rosemary’s Tips on Native and Exotic Plant Species