Appearance
"Petrophile pulchella" is a shrub that typically grows to a height of 1.5–3 m in sheltered locations but to only 50 cm in exposed heathland. The branchlets and leaves are softly-hairy at first but become glabrous with age.The leaves are 40–90 mm long on a petiole 30–50 mm long, and divided two or three times with needle-shaped pinnae but that are soft rather than sharp-tipped. The flowers are arranged in leaf axils and on the ends of branchlets in oval heads 20–35 mm long and are sessile or on a peduncle up to about 6 mm long.
The flowers are 6–10 mm long, cream-coloured and silky-hairy. Flowering mostly occurs from August to March and the fruit is a nut 3–4 mm long, fused with others in an oval head up to 65 mm long.
This species is distinguished from "P. pedunculata" by its flowerheads that are on peduncles 10–30 mm long. The two other species in eastern Australia, "P. canescens" and "P. sessilis", both have finely hairy new growth.
Distribution
"Petrophile pulchella" is found from south-eastern Queensland and south along the coast and adjacent tablelands to Jervis Bay in New South Wales. It often grows with trees such as Sydney peppermint, smooth-barked apple or more open woodland e.g. with scribbly gum, silvertop ash or with shrubs such as mountain devil, broad-leaved drumsticks and paperbark tea-tree.References:
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