I normally like to share the flowers that I come across during a given week with people, but today I thought I’d do something a little different. This week, I’m sharing some of the various leaves of native Australian plants that I have seen over the last few months.

The leaves below come from a eucalyptus tree. I am unable to be more specific than that-every image search I have done has come up with a different species name, so I will have to go back to this tree and find some other identifying feature. I do like the blue-green colouring to these leaves, they are a colour I will always associate with Australia.

The leaves below are from Melaleuca styphelioides, which is also known as prickly-leaved paperbark. The leaves are distinctive in that they have a twist in them, which isn’t that clear in this photo. The tree can be found in swampy areas around creeks and estuaries on both sandstone and shale soils. I have to say that this is my favourite paperbark tree, just because of the quirky leaves.

Below is another melaleuca, this time Melaleuca quinquenervia. The leaves are a lot larger than its relative above, and, if I’m honest, they aren’t as interesting! This species is found in marshes and forests nearby.

This is a picture of the lower section of an Araucaria columnaris. It does look rather like it has a constant bad hair day, but that is part of this conifers charm, along with the strange lean it takes on!

Grass trees, belonging to the genus Xanthorroea, are another random, rather odd looking genus of plants that belong to the Australian continent. The flower spikes can reach four metres tall in some species apparently, giving an odd look as they grow above the strappy leaves.

I know that the main part of this picture is the actual grevillea flower, but you can see the leaves are almost feather-like and delicate. I think the leaves of all grevilleas are as pretty as the flowers themselves, even though each species has a variation on what the leaves look like.

Below is a picture of the leaves of my favourite banksia, Banksia serrata. It is my favourite because this tree has rather ‘wrinkled’ bark that gives it the common name of ‘old man banksia’.

Next we have Acacia binervia ‘Stirling Silver’. I love the colour of the leaves (which are not leaves at all, but phyllodes which are leaf stems that function as a leaf) of this cultivar, which I found in the botanic gardens in Sydney.

Finally for today, this is Angophora hispida that has the common name of ‘dwarf apple’ due to its small size compared to other trees in its genus. This particular example was found in my Lane Cove National Park about five minutes from home. I find the way the leaves it on the stems rather interesting. The term used to describe this arrangement is ‘sessile’, which means the leaves are attached to the branch without a leaf stalk (a petiole in botany speak).

I hope that you have enjoyed looking at some of the interesting leaf shapes and colours that can be found here in Australia. Thanks for reading.