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Prostanthera lasianthos
Also called Mountain Lilac, Christmas Bush
Victorian Christmasbush is a fast-growing Australian shrub or small tree in the mint family, prized for its honey-scented white to mauve spring-summer flowers. It adapts to many garden conditions, including shade, and benefits from pruning to keep it compact.
Prostanthera lasianthos, commonly known as the Victorian Christmas bush or coranderrk , is a large shrub or small tree of the mint family, Lamiaceae, which is native to Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania in Australia. It grows up to 10 m (35 ft) high but is usually much less and is found in wet sclerophyll forests, often beside creeks. Its flowers, which appear in profuse sprays, are about 2 cm long and white or pale lilac, with purple and orange blotches in the throat. They appear in late spring and summer, and specifically around Christmas time in Victoria. The fragrant, toothed leaves are 4 to 12 cm (sometimes 15 cm) long and about 1.5 cm wide.
A fast growing plant, Prostanthera lasianthos adapts to diverse conditions in the garden, being at home in light or heavy soils and in sunny or shaded positions, even heavy shade. Prostanthera lasianthos is moderately frost-hardy and can withstand some snowfall. It can be pruned into different shapes and old plants can be rejuvenated this way; plants that are not pruned can otherwise become top-heavy. Flowering occurs in November in the Canberra region—earlier than in Victoria. Suckering has been observed. It can be propagated by seeds or taking cuttings of firm young growth. Seed stored for longer than three months at room temperature often fails to germinate.
Cultivars include 'Kallista Pink', a tall pink-flowering form that flowers profusely, and 'Mint Ice', a form with variegated foliage, both from the Dandenong Ranges in Victoria. Another tall cultivar, 'Liffey Falls' has lilac flowers.
P. lasianthos is found from Queensland to Tasmania. It occurs in a wide range of habitat, from riparian (river bank) habitats in wet forest to dry subalpine areas. In the Central Coast and Central Tablelands regions of New South Wales it grows in rainforest with such species as yellow sassafras (Doryphora sassafras) and coachwood (Ceratopetalum apetalum), in wet sclerophyll forest with cedar wattle (Acacia elata), brown barrel (Eucalyptus fastigata), and in dry sclerophyll forest with such species as forest red gum (Eucalyptus tereticornis) and river oak (Casuarina cunninghamiana).
Prostanthera albiflora · Prostanthera albohirta · Prostanthera althoferi · Sand Mintbush · Prostanthera arapilensis · Tranquility Mintbush · Scarlet Mintbush · Prostanthera athertoniana · Prostanthera baxteri · Downy Mintbush · Lilac Mint Bush · Limestone Mintbush
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Prostanthera lasianthos 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.
