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Lomatia tasmanica
Also called Kings Holly
King's lomatia is a rare Tasmanian shrub or small tree in the Protea family, known from only two wild populations, and it is sterile so it reproduces only by cuttings and layering. It is notoriously hard to keep alive in cultivation, mainly because it dries out and is vulnerable to root rot.
Lomatia tasmanica, commonly known as King's lomatia or King's holly, is a shrub of the family Proteaceae native to Tasmania. Growing up to 8 metres (26 ft) tall, the plant has shiny green pinnate leaves and bears red flowers in the summer, but yields neither fruit nor seeds. King's lomatia is unusual because all of the remaining plants are genetically identical clones. Because it has three sets of chromosomes (a triploid) and is therefore sterile, reproduction occurs only vegetatively: when a branch falls, that branch grows new roots, establishing a new plant that is genetically identical to its parent.
Charles Denison "Deny" King discovered the plant in 1934, though it was not described until 1967 by botanist Winifred Mary Curtis of the Tasmanian Herbarium. Only two wild populations of King's lomatia are known to exist in south-west Tasmania.
Lomatia tasmanica strikes readily from cuttings but is difficult to keep alive in cultivation, often perishing when dried out. The cuttings are taken in January and February and take up to 12 months to form roots. Like their wild counterparts, the cultivated plants are susceptible to Phytophthora cinnamomi. L. tasmanica has been grafted successfully onto L. tinctoria, and the Botanic Gardens sought to trial grafting it onto L. ferruginea.
Two populations of Lomatia tasmanica are known to exist, with the first colony consisting of around 500 to 600 plants in an area of less than 1.2 km (0.75 mi) long in southwestern Tasmania as well as a second population of the species which was discovered in 2026, also in the south-west of Tasmania. The exact locations of the two populations are both kept secret. The climate is wet, receiving an average total of 1,700 mm (67 in) of rain each year, and all plants grow within 25 metres (82 ft) of a river or creek. L. tasmanica mainly grows in rainforest or mixed forest made up of trees 8–15 metres (26–49 ft) high such as myrtle beech (Lophozonia cunninghamii), celery-top pine (Phyllocladus aspleniifolius), southern sassafras (Atherosperma moschatum), leatherwood (Eucryphia lucida), satinwood (Nematolepis squamea), blue-green tea tree (Leptospermum glaucescens), and horizontal scrub (Anodopetalum biglandulosum), as well as understory species such as thyme archeria (Archeria serpyllifolia), native plum (Cenarrhenes nitida), sweet-scented trochocarpa (Trochocarpa gunnii), Raukaua gunnii, …
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Lomatia tasmanica 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.
