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Mountain Tea Tree

Leptospermum variabile

Mountain Tea Tree
Photo: Ian McMaster, CC BY 3.0

Mountain Tea Tree (Leptospermum variabile) is a hardy Australian shrub, sometimes a small tree, grown for its white spring flowers and reddish new growth. It is best in sun with well-drained soil, and it is more often grown in gardens than as a houseplant.

Family
Myrtaceae (Myrtle family)
Grows as
Shrub
Light
Full sun
Water
Water regularly while establishing, then let the soil dry between drinks; it tolerates dry conditions once mature.
Soil
Free-draining, sandy or gravelly soil; tolerates poor, rocky ground.
Temperature
10–30 °C; tolerates light frost once established
How easy
Easy
Native range
SE. Queensland to New South Wales
Climate
subtropical

About

Leptospermum variabile is a species of shrub that is endemic to eastern Australia. It has thin, rough or scaly bark, broadly elliptical to lance-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base, white flowers arranged singly on the ends of short side branches, and woody fruit that remains on the plant when mature.

Where it grows

Leptospermum variabile grows in crevices between rocks on rocky summits or ridges on the tablelands and coastal ranges from south east Queensland to near Taree in New South Wales.

Other Leptospermum plants

Tea Trees · Leptospermum amboinense · Aggreflorum anfractum · Spidery Tea Tree · Leptospermum argenteum · Leptospermum barneyense · Aggreflorum benwellii · Gaudium blakelyi · Aggreflorum brachyandrum · Gaudium confertum · Prickly Tea Tree · Gaudium coriaceum

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Leptospermum variabile 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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