This is one for everyone who's ever enjoyed the Mt Kembla Summit Track, or spent a bit of time in the O'Brien's Drift area.

It's the lovely Grey Myrtle, a small shrubby tree (or tall tree-like shrub), that occurs in a range of dry rainforest situations around the region. As you start out on the Kembla Summit Track, the spindly, twisty low trees, often with lichen on their trunks, that predominate either side of the track are Grey Myrtles. 

I don't know how this beautiful plant got its common name, but it's no doubt something to do with the wood or the appearance of the bark, as those were features so often used by Europeans to assign names. The pretty flowers and the cinnamon-bay scent of the crushed leaves are alternative features to think about for an alternative title. 

Grey Myrtle is an outstandingly tough local tree, and can be found growing in quite harsh conditions in local dry rainforest communities. For example, you can see it on the Berkeley Hills, coping with more or less full sun and high winds. And it is a stalwart in dry, exposed areas of the Illawarra escarpment.

In the toughest spots, or alternatively where a human has taken the time to manage the growth form, Grey Myrtle can be seen as a fairly low, dense shrub. The below specimens are in the Illawarra Grevillea Park and Botanic Gardens in Bulli, where they've been pruned and trained to form a dense hedge about 1.2m high.

Regular pruning results in lots of new growth appearing at eye height, a mix of pale greens, yellows and pinkish reds. A sight to behold. It helps that the leaves can be used in cooking, similar to bay leaves, so pruning is never wasted.

You can even grow this plant in a pot, as it tolerates difficult conditions and low light for quite some years. It's an outstanding small tree for a range of landscaping applications, and I only wish it were more widely used. I only know of two or three specimens in gardens or verges across the entire Illawarra region.