Pink Phyllanthus Phyllanthus cuscutiflorus

Tiny pink flowers hung in clusters beneath every branchlet are what set Pink Phyllanthus apart. Each bloom is only about 2 mm across on a thread fine stalk, but they come in such numbers along the undersides of the slender branchlets that in spring a well grown plant looks dusted with pink from the trunk outwards. The species name compares those flowers to dodder, another plant that bunches its blooms tightly along thin stems. The leaves are rounded ovals, much paler underneath, set in two ranks along slender twigs, so each leafy side shoot reads like one long compound leaf. New growth comes through pink, orange red or deep maroon, depending on the plant, and small three lobed fruit follow, ripening from green to red.

It is an Australian native of monsoon forest and drier rainforest on Cape York Peninsula and in north east Queensland, from near the coast into the lower ranges, and it may also occur in New Guinea. In gardens it becomes a large shrub or small tree with an upright trunk and horizontal, slightly weeping side branches, and it suits tropical and subtropical gardens where something layered is wanted between bolder leaves.

Warmth, moisture and a frost free site

This is a plant for frost free gardens. It is comfortable along the Queensland coast from the far north down to Brisbane and the Sunshine and Gold Coasts, and in sheltered, frost free spots in northern New South Wales. Further south it is a candidate for a warm courtyard, or a large pot moved under cover for winter. Full sun to part shade suits it, with some relief from hot afternoon sun away from the coast. Give it a rich, well drained soil with plenty of organic matter and keep it watered: its home is monsoon and drier rainforest, but garden plants look far better with steady moisture, and in a long dry spell it sheds leaves and flowers poorly. A thick mulch of leaf litter or composted bark over the root zone does much of the work.

A smell at dusk, and light pruning

The catch is the scent. The flowers give off a strong, unpleasant odour, most noticeable in the late afternoon and evening, so keep it away from an outdoor dining area, a bedroom window or a pool terrace that is used at dusk. Set it at the back of a bed or along a boundary, where the pink reads from a distance and the smell does not reach the house. Outside the spring flowering it is a foliage plant, and a good one.

Pruning is light. Trim after flowering to keep the shape, or remove the lower branches over time to lift it into a small tree, and avoid shearing, which spoils the layered branch pattern that gives the plant its character. Feed in spring with a slow release fertiliser suited to natives, and water through the dry season in the tropics. Plants in pots are the ones most likely to pick up scale, so check the stems if the leaves turn sticky.

Where it fits in a tropical planting

In a mixed tropical bed it works as a layered middle storey beneath palms and taller rainforest trees, set against the broad leaves of gingers, cordylines and heliconias, and it gives a native note to a tropical scheme that is otherwise mostly imported. At its feet, a ground orchid such as Pink Spathoglottis Orchid adds pink flowers at ground level and wants the same warmth and moisture, and more plants for that kind of bed are in Tropical Plants. For gardeners outside the frost free belt, the guide to getting a tropical look in cooler Australian districts covers microclimates and winter shelter.

Choosing a size

This plant is supplied in one size, 300mm, at $119.00 per plant. The size shown is the pot it arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to Australian native trees.