Eucryphia milliganii

Dwarf Leatherwood

Flowers are solitary, axillary; pedicel bracteate at the base, ~0.7 cm long and peduncle not visible
Four bracts that are brown, imbricate, rigid and the external ones are ovate, acute and 1–1.5 mm long
While internal ones are linear-ovate and ~2mm long
Sepals 4, broadly ovate to oblong, obtuse, rigid, brown, margins on the upper and under surfaces slightly hairy and up to 4mm long
Four petals that are white ovate and about 8mm long. Many stamens but rarely less more than 20, filaments up to 4m long and surrounded by short tubular ciliate effigurations
Ovary ovoid-oblong, densely adpressedly villose and up to 2mm long. Flowers February–May

Fruit:

Fruit septicidally 4-5 valved, dark brown with valves pubescent on the back and glabrous at the sides
Epicarp mature fruits splits off from endocarp, which splits ~1/4 of its length
Seeds in each valve up to 3mm long and winged dark brown, glabrous

Leaves:

Stipules present and interpetiolar, ovate, brown in colour and never longer than 1mm
Leaves are simple, opposite and densely packed especially at the ends of branches
They are elliptic and length rarely exceeding twice the breadth
Theupper surface dark green, shining while under surface is very glaucous and reticulate
Both surfaces have venation; 0.4-1.4 cm long and 0.2-0.6 cm broad

Stem & branches:

It is an evergreen, normally small shrub growing a few meters high but in the right conditions can form a tree habit growing up to 14m
It is densely branched and is normally slender with branches being blackish-brown with a terete and hairless form

Roots:

Habit:

Habitat:

It is most commonly found in alpine and sub-alpine heath areas
It is the sister species of the popular horticulture plant Eucryphia lucida also known as Leatherwood
It is most common in alpine and sub-alpine areas where it grows in relatively undisturbed heath, but it extends virtually to sea level in scrubby vegetation

Distribution:

Additional notes:

There are two subspecies of E. milliganii
- E. milliganii ssp. milliganii, grows north of a line running from Macquarie Harbour to Bruny Island
- The leaves of this subspecies are oblong
- The southern subspecies, E. milliganii ssp. pubescens, grows south of this line and has ovate leaves.

Sources of information:

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