Leptospermum divaricatum

Leptospermum divaricatum is a species of plant that is endemic to inland New South Wales. It is an erect or weeping shrub with compact fibrous bark, elliptical to egg-shaped leaves, white flowers arranged singly on short axillary side shoots and woody fruit that fall off when mature.

Description
Leptospermum divaricatum is an erect or weeping shrub with several stems and that typically grows to a height of 1-4 m. It has rough, compact, fibrous bark on the older stems, the younger stems thin and covered with fine hairs. The leaves are elliptical to egg-shaped, mostly 2-7 mm long and 1-2 mm wide. The flowers are white, usually borne singly on short side branches, and are about 6-10 mm in diameter. The floral cup is hairy on the lower part, about 2 mm long on a pedicel 0.5-1.5 mm long. The sepals are triangular, about 1 mm long with a few hairs. The petals are 2.5-3.5 mm long and the stamens are in bundles of between three and five and are about 1 mm long. Flowering mainly occurs from August to October and the fruit is a woody capsule about 4 mm in diameter that falls off when mature.

Taxonomy
This species was formally described in 1843 by Johannes Conrad Schauer in Walper's book Repertorium Botanices Systematicae. The specific epithet (divaricatum) is a Latin word meaning "widely spreading" or "forked".

Distribution and habitat
Leptospermum divaricatum grows in woodland and heath in mallee or on hillsides on the North West Slopes, Central Western Slopes and Western Plains of New South Wales, south from Nymagee.