Backhousia myrtifolia, William Jackson Hooker & William Henry Harvey, 1845
Grey Myrtle,
MYRTACEAE

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Flowering stem, with a coating of roadside dust
Deua National Park, NSW, 31st December 1998

This plant is a shrub or tree, up to 15 metres in height, with flaking bark. The leaves are opposite and ovate, up to 70 mm in length. The flowers occur in short axillary racemes, and are white to yellowish, with sepals and stamens longer and more conspicuous than the petals.

The leaves when crushed have some potential as an insect repellant.

The species is widespread in warm rainforest, often close to streams, in eastern New South Wales and Queensland.

The plant is a foodplant of several Australian Caterpillars, including :

Echiomima mythica
XYLORYCTIDAE

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(updated 28 December 2009, 15 August 2020)