Family: SAPINDACEAE

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Description

With the weather cooling down after a long, hot summer, Dodonaea ceratocarpa may not come to mind as the first choice for Plant of the Month during May. After all, the flowers of this prostrate form are small and insignificant. It is not the flowers, however, that are the main attraction of this plant.

The prostrate form of Dodonaea ceratocarpa is a compact ground cover growing up to 300 mm high and up to 4 m wide. It succeeds where many Western Australian natives have failed - growing in areas with high amounts of shade or permanent filtered sunlight and thereby providing a lush green carpet in areas which have traditionally remained bare, such as the area underneath large trees. It can be used to create a grass like look for larger scale gardens and is hardy in nature, due to this prostrate form of the plant originally being found in the coastal regions of the south-west of Western Australia.

Dodonaea ceratocarpa is available for purchase commercially, and can also be found for sale in the Friends of Kings Park Plant sales.

Horticultural tips

• Water to establishment. Although it will survive times of extremely dry weather, to maintain a lush, green carpet it is recommended to water Dodonaea ceratocarpa at least once a week in the warmer months.
• Dodonaea ceratocarpa tolerates shade very well, but can also grow with exposure to full sun.
• This plant is a perfect solution to a large, bare verge as it will grow up to 4m wide, and provides good weed suppression.

For more horticultural tips view our Plant Notes section.

View in Kings Park

You can admire Dodonaea ceratocarpa in Kings Park by visiting the area to the north of the Roe Gardens, under the shade of the Marri Trees (refer to map).

Want more information?

Refer to the profile for this plant on the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions' FloraBase online herbarium.