RIVER PAPERBARK

Multi-stemmed shrub or tree to 6m high, the bark on the trunk and larger branches is white, papery and peeling.

Leaves - mostly opposite, linear-lanceolate, 12-15mm long, 1.5-2mm wide, flat, the tip pointed.

Flowers - white, in an open “bottlebrush” spike near the tip of a branch, the main axis bearing long soft hairs, the stamens much longer than the small petals.

Fruit - rusty-coloured thin-walled ovoid capsule, about 2mm diameter.

Flowering summer.

Indigenous uses - headache cure; bactericides and germicidal oil: wounds, sore and ulcers, styptics; treatment of boils, ulcers, abscesses, sores, cuts and abrasions; reputed to cure skin conditions such as ringworm.