Coleonema pulchellum
Common name
Breath of heaven, confetti bush (see also ‘diosma’ under Synonyms, below)
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).
Family
Rutaceae
Flora category
Vascular – Exotic
Structural class
Trees & Shrubs - Dicotyledons
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
Conservation status
Not applicable
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 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.
Flower colours
Red/Pink
Year naturalised
1993
Origin
South Africa
Reason for introduction
Garden ornamental
Attribution
Fact sheet up-dated and expanded by C C Ogle, Oct 2015
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