Taxandria juniperina (Schauer) J.R.Wheeler & N.G.Marchant

Agonis juniperina Schauer

Australian cedar, juniper myrtle

South-western Australia.

Poor success with seed set; cuttings are generally used for propagation as they root easily. In New Zealand grown as a garden landscape or shelter tree; occasional naturalised seedlings near parent plants. Material has been sold in New Zealand under the name Agonis juniperina ‘Florist Star’.

Relatively few collections in New Zealand, most confined to cultivated specimens from Auckland, Hamilton and Tauranga. Present in gardens and parks in lowland areas of the North Island and northern South Island.

• Leaves clustered (fascicled), heath-like.
• Leaf tips spiny.
• Flowers in globular heads.
• Petals persistent.
• Petals with narrow base (clawed).
• Stamens 10, one stamen opposite each sepal and one opposite each petal.
• Fruit in globular clusters.

Trees that usually grow to less than 13 m tall but can grow up to 27 m tall in their natural environment, ultimate branches drooping.

Bark fibrous, brown, new bark tinted light red. Young branchlets and stems hairy.

Leaves clustered (fascicled), linear, (4–)7–13(–15) mm long, 0.3–1.5 mm wide, green, upper leaf surface mostly flat, sometimes concave, not puckered, upper and lower surfaces hairless, midrib not raised; margins entire, sometimes sparsely hairy; tips pointed; leaf stalks absent to short. When bruised, leaves and young stems release a spicy perfume.

Flowers clustered in dense globular heads ± 10 mm diam. on short side branches or tips of branchlets. Flowers ± 6 mm in diam., flower stalks absent, petals 5, white, spreading, clawed, persistent; sepals 5, cream, tips free, hairless, persistent; stamens in two whorls (rings) of 5, one opposite the sepals, another opposite the petals, stamens shorter than petals. Main flowering period: late summer through winter to late spring.

Fruit in dry globular heads, each fruitlet 3-locular, ± 2.5–3 mm wide.

In New Zealand T. juniperina looks superficially like Leptospermum scoparium, but the globular arrangement of the flowers and fruits of the former distinguishes it from the latter. Three other species of Taxandria are present, uncommon or rare in New Zealand. Taxandria juniperina is characterised by possessing leaves more than 7 mm long, narrow and not recurved in the outer half, but instead slightly concave, and flowers ≥ 5 mm across. One species, T. parviceps, has short narrow leaves less than 7 mm long. The other two species have sepals that are densely hairy, unlike T. juniperina which has sepals hairless or sparsely hairy. One of them, T. marginata, has distinctive wider, usually obtuse leaves, 9–28 mm long. The other species, T. linearifolia, with leaves 7–45 mm long, has oval to elliptic leaves to 4 mm wide, and flowers only 3–5 mm diam., smaller than those of T. juniperina.

Taxandria is a genus of 11 species endemic to Western Australia. Four species are recorded in New Zealand, with T. juniperina the most common and occasionally naturalising.

• Australia’s Flora: Growing Native Plants
• CitSciHub
• Flora of New Zealand Online
• GBIF
• iNaturalist NZ
• NZPCN