About

Melaleuca hypericifolia, commonly known as hillock bush, is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, genus Melaleuca and is endemic to New South Wales in Australia. It has large, orange to red flower spikes and consequently is a commonly cultivated species. In 1797, James Edward Smith described the plant as:

"The most beautiful of the genus. It grows in swampy ground ...is plentiful in the English gardens, and was generally taken for an Hypericum, till it lately produced, in several collections near London, its elegant flowers."

How to grow it

Hillock bush is a hardy, adaptable and attractive shrub that has been known in gardens for many years. It is moderately frost hardy, although the flowers tend to be hidden inside the shrub. It is a dense screen plant, unless pruned to display the flowers. It has caused problems in some areas where it has spread from gardens into bushland in other states and care should be taken with the species in southern Victoria. Two cultivars have been developed:

M. hypericifolia 'Snapper Point'

Where it grows

Melaleuca hypericifolia occurs in damp areas of sandy heath and woodland in mostly coastal areas from Bermagui to Sydney and inland as far as the Blue Mountains. The species is naturalised in South Australia and Victoria.

Other Melaleuca plants

Kalbarri Beaufortia · Dark Beaufortia · Badgingarra Beaufortia · Beaufortia bracteosa · Beaufortia burbidgeae · Stirling Range Bottlebrush · Gravel Bottlebrush · Elegant Beaufortia · Beaufortia empetrifolia · Beaufortia eriocephala · Grey Leaved Beaufortia · Beaufortia interstans