Twiggy Heath-myrtle, Sannantha pluriflora, looks a lot like a tea-tree, Leptospermum species, except closer examination reveals the characteristic small, soft myrtle nuts.

It was previously called Beackea virgata, and commonly referred to as “Tall Beackea”, and is listed as this in Leon Costerman’s “Trees and Shrubs of South-eastern Australia”. Then it was split between two species, and re-named, with Babingtonia virgata known as a plant that only occurs on islands in the Pacific, and Babingtonia plurifolia which is the plant shown here. The reasons were that within the genus formerly known as Beackea, there were groups of plants which had distinctive characteristics and it was decided to split them into a separate groups. Arguments are common between ‘splitters’, who like to do that, and ‘lumpers’ who would rather lump the species together into a bigger group. Later on, the Babingtonia genus was further divided and the plant was re-classified as Sannantha pluriflora.

Twiggy heath-myrtle grows as a spreading shrub to 2m tall. Its leaves are broad, dark green, have a distinct midvein, but are not folded. The flowers are borne in clusters of 2-4, on slender stalks which remain visible supporting the nut.

Twiggy heath-myrtle can be found on sheltered sites in forest on the coast or northern and eastern Australia. In the examples shown here, Twiggy heath-myrtle grows as dense thickets. It can be found along the XC Mountain Bike track just across Bridge 1 from the Carpentry Centre, or uphill from Manna Park Hostel.

Click on any of the pictures to download a higher resolution image (T.Hastings September 2009).