Adult butterflies feed on nectar

Small rounded shrub to 4 metres with soft, green leaves. Triangular stipules prominent on branchlets, persisting on stems. Terminal buds shiny. Leaves opposite, dark green, softly succulent looking. Found in drier rainforest margins and along creeks and gullies. Grows in full sun or part shade. Pavetta from the Singhalese name for the plant P. indica; australiensis from Latin australia and ensis belonging to. Showy white, perfumed flowers in dense clusters to 10 cm across, which normally appear in October – November, followed by fruit in February and March. Highly ornamental when flowering. It is also moderately fast growing and quite hardy. Butterflies feed on nectar in flowers. Beehawk moths feed on the leaves. 

Surprisingly hardy, this Pavetta bush at Walton Bridge Reserve survived being entirely underwater in the 2022 flood. PHOTO: Anne Jones

Flowering plant. Photo: John Abbott

Flowers. Photo: Robert Whyte

Unripe fruit. Photo: Robert Whyte

Seed collecting and propagation

Globose fruit to 8 mm are initially green and turn black when ripe in February March. Fresh peeled seed germinates in a few weeks. No treatment necessary.