Pride of Madiera (Echium candicans) Evergreen ornamental shrubs ranging in size from small compact shrubs 20 to 60cm tall up to 1 to 2m. Flowers are clustered on long spikes, light blue through to blue purple in colour, sometimes white or pink, 1 to 2cm long with exserted stamens. Leaves are [...]
Coral plant (Jatropha multifida) An ornamental shrub to 2m high. The flowers are very small and bright red, grouped in clusters at the end of long stout branches. Flowers in mid-summer. The leaves are 10 to 20cm wide and deeply divided into 9 to 11 narrow segments or lobes. These [...]
Pokeweed (Phytolacca americana) A perennial shrub to 3m with a fleshy taproot. Found growing on roadsides and in moist waste or disturbed areas. Flowers are small, held in open racemes and are white to green in colour. The soft elliptic leaves are tapered into the petiole, 4-14cm long and 1.5-4cm wide. Toxicity [...]
Inkweed (Phytolacca octandra) Perennial herb or small shrub with smooth succulent stems growing to 2m. Often found as a weed of waste places, creek banks and roadsides. Flowers are white to pale green becoming purplish, held in dense axillary racemes or spikes 7-15cm long. The soft leaves are elliptic to [...]
Poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima) A shrub to 2.5m tall cultivated as an ornamental garden plant in warmer temperate areas or as a smaller potted indoor plant in cooler climates. The small yellow flowers are held in terminal bunches with bright coloured leafy bracts directly below. Bracts are similar in size [...]
Copperleaf (Acalypha wilkesiana) An ornamental evergreen bushy shrub to 2m tall cultivated for its showy colourful foliage. The male and female flowers look different but are borne on the same plant. Flowers are small, in racemes or spikes 10 to 20 cm long, usually held amongst [...]
Plumbago (Plumbago zeylanica) A scrambling shrub to 1m with ridged stems. The flowers are stalkless (sessile) or on very short stalks, white with five petals and a slender corolla tube 1.5-2cm long. The calyx tube is 5-ribbed, about 1cm long and covered with sticky glandular hairs. The leaves are ovate, [...]
Hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla) An ornamental deciduous shrub to 3m tall cultivated for its large showy flowers. The blue, pink or less commonly, white flowers are in large dense clusters held at the end of the branches. Each flower has 4-5 petals. Toxicity category: 2, 3 Warning: Seek [...]
Chenille plant (Acalypha spp.) Evergreen ornamental shrubs to 3m tall with the exception of A. reptans which is a dwarf prostrate form often grown in hanging baskets or as a ground cover. The tiny flowers are clustered onto long velvety hanging spikes or catkins, pink, bright red/crimson, purple or sometimes white (cultivar [...]
Green cestrum (Cestrum parqui) A single or multi-stemmed, weedy shrub up to 2m tall, sometimes to 5m, with extensive yellow roots. It has been cultivated as an ornamental in the past and is a weed in some areas. The flowers are tubular, 2-2.5cm long with five star shaped lobes, greenish-yellow and [...]
