Cinnamon Myrtle

(Backhousia myrtifolia)

Also known as grey myrtle (but way less descriptive I think!) cinnamon myrtle is the lesser known sister of lemon myrtle. It comes from the rainforests on the East coast of Australia and when crushed, its leaves have a beautiful cinnamon-y aroma. You can use it in cooking - anywhere you would use true cinnamon. Chop the leaves finely or add whole while cooking to impart their flavour.

Cinnamon myrtle can grow quite tall in the wild, but responds well to pruning and can be kept bushy as a large hedge in a garden setting.

In late spring and summer it has small dainty star shaped, cream coloured flowers, about 1 cm across. Each flower has a cluster of long stamens giving a kind of overall fluffy appearance to each cluster of flowers, which are great at attracting pollinators.

full sun - part shade, tolerant of most soils, up to 10m in good conditions, but kept to 3m with pruning