Prostanthera lasianthos

Prostanthera lasianthos, common name, Victorian Christmas bush, is a large shrub or small tree of the mint family, Lamiaceae, which is native to Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. It grows up to 10 m high but is usually much less. It is found in wet sclerophyll forests, often beside creeks. Its flowers, which appear in profuse sprays, are about 2 cm long and white or pale lilac, with purple and orange blotches in the throat. They appear in late spring and summer, and specifically around Christmas time in Victoria. The fragrant, toothed leaves are 4 to 12 cm (sometimes 15 cm ) long and about 1.5 cm wide. French naturalist Jacques Labillardière described the Victorian Christmas bush in volume 2 of his Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen in 1806, from a specimen collected in Van Diemens Land (Tasmania). The specific epithet is derived from the Greek words lasios "hairy" and anthos "flower". The mint bush genus belongs to the family Lamiaceae, which also contains the true mint species and other familiar aromatic kitchen herbs.

116.00 Location Many specimens form part of the Tarwin River bank restoration plantings by the West Gippsland CMA in 2009/11