Buffalo Mint-Bush

About

Prostanthera monticola, commonly known as Buffalo mint-bush, is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae and is endemic to higher areas of south-eastern Australia. It is a sprawling, open shrub with red, hairy branches, lance-shaped to narrow elliptic leaves and pale bluish-green to grey-green flowers with dark purple-blue veins.

How to spot it

Prostanthera monticola is a sprawling, open shrub that typically grows to a height of 0.3–2 m (1 ft 0 in – 6 ft 7 in) with red, hairy, often ridged branches. The leaves are lance-shaped or egg-shaped to narrow elliptic and with a grooved upper surface, 15–50 mm (0.59–1.97 in) long and 5–13 mm (0.20–0.51 in) wide on a petiole 2–5 mm (0.079–0.197 in) long. The flowers are arranged singly on leaf axils on a pedicel 2–3 mm (0.079–0.118 in) long and covered with white hairs and with bracteoles 10–18

Documented on these trails

Found in

• Mount Buffalo National Park — Gippsland & Alpine Victoria hikes