Kunzea flavescens facts for kids

Kunzea flavescens is a special plant that belongs to the myrtle family, called Myrtaceae. It grows naturally only in Queensland, Australia. This plant is usually a spreading bush, but it can sometimes grow into a small tree. It has leaves shaped like eggs and pretty groups of white or cream-colored flowers. You can see these flowers blooming on the ends of its branches, usually in September and October.

What Does Kunzea flavescens Look Like?

Kunzea flavescens is a bushy plant that spreads out. It often grows to about 3 meters (10 feet) tall, but some can reach up to 7 meters (23 feet). Its leaves grow one after another along the branches. They are long and narrow, like a spear, with the narrower part closer to the stem.

Most leaves are about 4 to 7 millimeters (0.16 to 0.28 inches) long and 1.5 to 2.5 millimeters (0.06 to 0.10 inches) wide. They are flat and feel a little bit fuzzy when they are young. If you look closely, you can see more than sixty tiny oil glands on the underside of each leaf.

Flowers and Fruit

The flowers of Kunzea flavescens are white or cream-colored. They grow in round groups of eight to fifteen flowers at the tips of the branches. Each flower has small, egg-shaped leaves called bracts, which are about 3 to 4 millimeters (0.12 to 0.16 inches) long. There are also even smaller leaves called bracteoles at the base of each flower.

The bottom part of the flower, called the floral cup, is about 3 to 3.5 millimeters (0.12 to 0.14 inches) long and feels hairy. The triangular sepals (which protect the flower bud) are about 1.5 to 2 millimeters (0.06 to 0.08 inches) long and have hairy edges. The petals are shaped like oblongs or eggs and are about 1.5 to 2 millimeters (0.06 to 0.08 inches) long. Inside the flower, there are about fifty stamens (the parts that make pollen) that are 2 to 3.5 millimeters (0.08 to 0.14 inches) long.

This plant mainly flowers in September and October. After the flowers, it produces a fruit that looks like an urn-shaped capsule, about 5 millimeters (0.20 inches) long.

How Kunzea flavescens Got Its Name

The plant Kunzea flavescens was officially described for the first time in 1922. Two scientists, Cyril White and William Francis, gave it its name. They studied a plant sample found near Crows Nest by a person named Frederick Hamilton Kenny.

Their description was published in a scientific paper called Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland. The second part of its name, flavescens, comes from a Latin word. It means "slightly yellow," which probably refers to the color of its flowers.

Where Kunzea flavescens Grows

Kunzea flavescens grows in only a few places in south-east Queensland. You can find it on rocky hills and in areas with heathland (a type of open shrubland) and open woodlands. Some of the places where it grows include areas near Crows Nest and Biggenden Bluff, which is in the Mount Walsh National Park.

Is Kunzea flavescens Protected?

Good news! Kunzea flavescens is currently classified as "Least Concern" under Queensland's Nature Conservation Act 1992. This means that, for now, there are enough of these plants, and they are not considered to be in danger of disappearing.