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Coleonema pulchellum

Victoria Ave, Whanganui.<br>Photographer: Colin C. Ogle, Date taken: 02/10/2015, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>

C. pulchellum leaves with apiculate tips and fine marginal serrations; Victoria Ave, Whanganui.<br>Photographer: Colin C. Ogle, Date taken: 02/10/2015, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>

Planted and self seeding, Whanganui.<br>Photographer: Colin C. Ogle, Date taken: 04/10/2015, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>

Seedling in a garden, Whanganui.<br>Photographer: Colin C. Ogle, Date taken: 04/10/2015, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>

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Common names

Breath of heaven, confetti bush (see also ‘diosma’ under Synonyms, below)

Biostatus

Exotic

Conservation status

Not applicable

Structural class

Trees & Shrubs - Dicotyledons

Flower colours

Red/Pink

Detailed description

A much branched bush, 0.5-1.3 m tall in cultivation; planted for its compact shape and massed pink flowering. (A red-flowered form is reported.) Leaves fine, heath-like, with fine acuminate mucrons and very fine serrations in upper 1/3-1/4 of each leaf; mature leaves plano-convex in cross-section. Foliage aromatic when crushed.

Similar taxa

Various small-leaved members of Myrtaceae resemble Coleonema but a hand lens will show the very fine leaf margin serrations on C. pulchellum.

Distribution

Despite being very popular and widely planted, there are few records of C. pulchellum as self-establishing. Seedlings have been found near planted shrubs in very sandy soils in Wellington and Whanganui.

Detailed taxonomy

Genus

Coleonema

Family

Rutaceae

Authority

Coleonema pulchellum I. Williams

Synonyms

C. pulchellum has been known as C. pulchrum but this is a different species. It has also been known as Diosma, but Victor & van Wyk (1999) showed these are separate genera and C. pulchellum is not a Diosma. (The continued use of ‘diosma’ for C. pulchellum in some gardening circles only adds to the confusion).

Endemic family

Ecology

Year naturalised

1993

Origin

South Africa

Reason for introduction

Garden ornamental

Other information

NVS code

The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.

COLPUL

Referencing and citations

References and further reading

Janine E. Victor & Abraham E. van Wyk (1999) Pollen morphology of Diosma
and Coleonema (Rutaceae: Diosminae) and its taxonomic implications, Grana, 38:1, 12-19, DOI:
10.1080/001731300750044663

Attribution

Fact sheet up-dated and expanded by C C Ogle, Oct 2015

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