Alice Springs Flora •

Alice Springs FloraAlice Springs Flora Index Acacia ligulata Annual Yellowtop Apple Bush Bougainvillea Burdekin Plum Carob Tree (Ceratonia siliqa) Cattle Bush Desert Cotton (Aerva javanica) Desert Oak Eremophila Wildberry Feijoa sellowiana Flannel Cudweed Fork-leaf Corkwood Ghost Gum Golden Everlasting Kurrajong Lemon-flowered Gum MacDonnell’s Desert Fuchsia Native Bluebell Native Tomato Needlewood Olive Tree Perennial Yellow Top Rat’s Tail River Red Gum Inland River Red Gum Rosy Dock Round-leaved Mallee Scurvy Grass Silky Eremophila Stemodia viscosa Striped Mintbush Sturt’s Desert Pea Sturt’s Desert Rose Tangled Leschenaultia Tar Vine Weeping Bottlebrush White Cedar Yellow Billybutton Yellow-keeled Swainsona Yellow Oleander

The Apple Bush (Pterocaulon sphacelatum) is a flowering plant species found across mainland Australia, in Western Australia and Central Australia. It is found in natural habitat from sub-tropical dry to continental grasslands.

Sometimes spelt Applebush, and also known as Fruit-salad Plant, the Aboriginal Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara name is Intiyanu. It is an aromatic plant that is used in Australian Aboriginal medicine.

Apple Bush (Pterocaulon sphacelatum), Alice Springs, NT
Apple Bush (Pterocaulon sphacelatum), Alice Springs, NT

The flowers can vary from green, blue, purple, pink, white. There are no petals, the flower heads are spherical to oval, borne singly at the end of the stems.

Apple Bush (Pterocaulon sphacelatum), Alice Springs, NT
Apple Bush (Pterocaulon sphacelatum), Alice Springs, NT
Apple Bush (Pterocaulon sphacelatum), Alice Springs, NT
Apple Bush (Pterocaulon sphacelatum), Alice Springs, NT
Apple Bush (Pterocaulon sphacelatum), Alice Springs, NT
Apple Bush (Pterocaulon sphacelatum), Alice Springs, NT
Apple Bush (Pterocaulon sphacelatum), Alice Springs, NT
Apple Bush (Pterocaulon sphacelatum), Alice Springs, NT
Apple Bush (Pterocaulon sphacelatum), Alice Springs, NT
Apple Bush (Pterocaulon sphacelatum), Alice Springs, NT

Checkout our Apple Bush (Emily & Jessie Gaps) and Apple Bush (Pterocaulon sphacelatum) in the Flora section.


  • Scientific classification
  • Kingdom: Plantae
  • Phylum: Charophyta
  • Class: Equisetopsida
  • Subclass: Magnoliidae
  • Superorder: Asteranae
  • Order: Asterales
  • Family: Asteraceae
  • Genus: Pterocaulon
  • Species: Pterocaulon sphacelatum

Footnote & References

  1. Applebush (Pterocaulon sphacelatum), iNatuarlist, https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/370042-Pterocaulon-sphacelatum

Alice Springs FloraAlice Springs Flora Index Acacia ligulata Annual Yellowtop Apple Bush Bougainvillea Burdekin Plum Carob Tree (Ceratonia siliqa) Cattle Bush Desert Cotton (Aerva javanica) Desert Oak Eremophila Wildberry Feijoa sellowiana Flannel Cudweed Fork-leaf Corkwood Ghost Gum Golden Everlasting Kurrajong Lemon-flowered Gum MacDonnell’s Desert Fuchsia Native Bluebell Native Tomato Needlewood Olive Tree Perennial Yellow Top Rat’s Tail River Red Gum Inland River Red Gum Rosy Dock Round-leaved Mallee Scurvy Grass Silky Eremophila Stemodia viscosa Striped Mintbush Sturt’s Desert Pea Sturt’s Desert Rose Tangled Leschenaultia Tar Vine Weeping Bottlebrush White Cedar Yellow Billybutton Yellow-keeled Swainsona Yellow Oleander

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