Botanical name Myrsine variabilis
A common name Variable Muttonwood
Seedling
Not yet
Young plant
Juvenile
Reasonably mature
Sassafras
This young Myrsine variabilis is a seedling transplant, having been dug out of a new quad bike track. I took it back to the Shade House and here it is a while later near our front gate. I needed some plants that were frost hardy, the reddish purple tinge is minor frost damage, this is the frostiest part of our garden.
It is unusual to see entire leaves, as you can see one of the smaller leaves in the photo above is, the leaf pointing towards 11 o'clock. The norm on immature plants is spines, they are not particularly nasty, nil defense against Swamp Wallabies who relish them. Myrsine variabilis are caged in Privett infested areas till they are close to 1.5 metres tall, such is there attraction to Wallabies. I took the cage off for a few minutes to weed it and take photos.