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Shrubby Velvet-Bush

Lasiopetalum macrophyllum

Shrubby Velvet-Bush
Photo: Melburnian, CC BY-SA 3.0

Shrubby velvet-bush is an erect to straggling Australian shrub, typically 1 to 3 m high, grown for its rust-coloured new growth and woolly cream and reddish flowers. It does best in well-drained soil in part shade or sun.

Family
Malvaceae (Mallow family)
Grows as
Shrub
Light
Part shade
Water
Water regularly while establishing, then reduce to occasional watering once plants are established; avoid waterlogging.
Soil
Well-drained soil, including sandy or rocky mixes.
Temperature
Frost tolerant; typically suited to cool to mild climates, protect young plants from hard frost.
How easy
Easy
Native range
SE. Queensland to SE. Australia
Climate
subtropical

About

Lasiopetalum macrophyllum, commonly known as shrubby velvet bush, is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae and is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It is a shrub with egg-shaped to lance-shaped with rust-coloured hairs on the lower surface, and woolly-hairy, cream-coloured and reddish flowers.

How to grow it

Lasiopetalum macrophyllum was introduced to cultivation in England in 1835. Its flushes of rust-coloured new growth have some ornamental appeal, and it grows fairly readily in part-shade in the garden, and is propagated by seed or cutting. Forms with more attractive new growth and prostrate habit have been selected for the garden. It grows in well-drained soils in sun or part shade and is frost tolerant. It has also been classified as somewhat fire retardant.

Where it grows

Shrubby velvet bush grows in forest and woodland, often amongst rocks and near watercourses and occurs on the coast and tablelands of New South Wales, mainly east of Erica and in the Grampians in Victoria, in near-coastal areas of eastern and north-western Tasmania and on some Bass Strait islands.

Other Lasiopetalum plants

Lasiopetalum adenotrichum · Lasiopetalum angustifolium · Slender Velvet Bush · Pink Velvet Bush · Lasiopetalum bracteatum · Lasiopetalum cardiophyllum · Lasiopetalum cenobium · Lasiopetalum compactum · Lasiopetalum cordifolium · Lasiopetalum dielsii · Coast Velvet Bush · Lasiopetalum drummondii

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Lasiopetalum macrophyllum by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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