Prostanthera incisa

Prostanthera incisa is an erect, openly-branched, "strongly and rather unpleasantly"{{cite web |last1=Conn |first1=Barry J. |title=Prostanthera incisa |url=https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/flora/taxon/6c06fcef-2c39-481c-b76c-1c487c67c4a5 |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria |access-date=3 September 2020}} aromatic shrub or has a "pleasing aroma emanating from the sensitive leaf glands" according to George Althofer.{{cite book |last1=Althofer |first1=George |title=Cradle of Incense |date=1978 |publisher=The Society for Growing Australian Plants |isbn=0909830134 |page=71}} The shrub has ridged, hairy, densely glandular branches. The leaves are hairy, densely glandular, egg-shaped to oblong, paler on the lower surface, {{cvt|8–30|mm}} long and {{cvt|4–12|mm}} wide on a petiole {{cvt|1–10|mm}} long. The edges of the leaves are coarsely toothed and the tip is rounded. The flowers are arranged in bunches near the end of the branches with bracteoles about {{cvt|1|mm}} long but that fall off as the flower develops. The sepals are {{cvt|3–4.5|mm}} long, forming a tube about {{cvt|2|mm}} long with two lobes, the upper lobe about {{cvt|2|mm}} long. The petals are pale mauve to mauve and {{cvt|7–10|mm}} long.

Prostanthera incisa was first formally described in 1810 by Robert Brown in his book Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen, and it still bears its original name.{{cite web |title=Prostanthera incisa |url=https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/541665 |website=Australian Plant Name Index |access-date=3 September 2020}}{{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Robert |title=Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Dieman |date=1810 |publisher=typis R. Taylor et socii,1810 |location=London |page=509 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/21871#page/377/mode/1up |access-date=3 September 2020}}

Cut-leaved mint-bush is found along the New South Wales coastline from Mount Warning near the Queensland border all the way to Victoria, as well as on the Central Tablelands of New South Wales. It is found in sheltered sites in rainforest margins or sclerophyll forest under such trees as Sydney blue gum (Eucalyptus saligna), cabbage gum (E. amplifolia), Sydney peppermint (E. piperita), red bloodwood (Corymbia gummifera) or turpentine (Syncarpia glomulifera). It can also occur in scrub along watercourses in association with river she-oak (Casuarina cunninghamiana).{{cite journal |last1=Benson |first1=Doug |last2=McDougall |first2=Lyn |title=Ecology of Sydney Plant Species, Part 5 - Dicotyledon families Flacourtiaceae to Myrsinaceae |journal=Cunninghamia |date=1997 |volume=5 |issue=2 |page=426 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/58500872#page/146/mode/1up |access-date=3 September 2020}}

First grown in England in 1824, P. incisa var. incisa is cultivated on a small-scale commercial basis for essential oil production and for bushfood spice. P. incisa prefers sheltered sites in well-drained acidic soils,{{cite book |author1=Elliot, Rodger W. |author2=Jones, David L. |author3=Blake, Trevor |title=Encyclopaedia of Australian Plants Suitable for Cultivation: Volume 7 – N-Po |year=1997 |publisher= Lothian Press |location= Port Melbourne | page=26; 221 |isbn=0-85091-634-8}} and in poorly drained soils it can be susceptible to root-rot. It has reasonable frost tolerance down to −5 °. It is a fast-growing shrub, and consequently can be harvested within the first year. When pruned back to a height of 50 cm it reshoots readily.

Propagation is by seed or cutting material of firm young growth.

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite web |title=Prostanthera incisa R.Br. — Cut-Leaved Mint-Bush |publisher=Atlas of Living Australia |url=https://bie.ala.org.au/species/https://id.biodiversity.org.au/node/apni/2902306}}

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incisa

Category:Lamiales of Australia

Category:Flora of New South Wales

Category:Flora of Victoria (state)

Category:Plants described in 1810

Category:Taxa named by Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773)