Bursaria spinosa

Botanical Name: Bursaria spinosa
Common Name: Prickly box
Family: Pittosporaceae
Size: 3-5m H x 2-3m W
Leaves: Bright glossy green above lighter below, blunt wedge-shaped, arranged alternately along the branches.
Flowers: 5-petalled white, star-shaped, with central protruding stamens. The flowers are arranged in a terminal pyramid.

Flowering Time: Summer.
Fruit: Bilobed, flat, heart-shaped capsule.
Habitat/distribution: Widespread, common in coastal sandy gravel areas, extending inland to wet sclerophyll. Also WA, SA, Vic, NSW, Q.
Where to See: Most National Parks; Wellington Park; Knocklofty and Coningham Reserves; Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens; Tasmanian Bushland Garden, Buckland; and The Tasmanian Arboretum, Eugenana; also many home gardens.
Other notes: Woody shrub to small tree with the smaller branches and side stems ending as spikes. The horticultural potential of this plant lies in its ability to attract bees, butterflies and birds with its sweet-scented flowers. It is also a good coastal revegetation plant and can be trimmed to a hedge. This compact, dark green shrub with masses of white summer flowers usually humming with bees, and heart-shaped fruit make it easily recognised in the bush or garden. Its sharp spikes on smaller branches make it a safe haven for small nesting birds which have been known to use white domestic hen feathers to line and camouflage their nests.