Cuttsia

Cuttsia viburnea
Family: CARPODETACEAE
Now flowering - and what attention-grabbing flowers these are!

In their typical habitat, a shady creek bed in rainforest understorey, these gleaming white flowers led my eyes to a plant I might otherwise have overlooked. The strong honey scent of their nectar-rich flowers was attracting the attention of many insects. Little quiet birds were coming as well, to feed on the insects, making the point that insect-attracting plants have value not only for the insects in their environment.
If fertilised, the flowers of this plant produce heavy seed crops in their little capsules. However,  as with many bisexual-flowered plants, Cuttsia plants are not self-fertile. Separate timing of the maturing of their flowers' male and female parts means that the flowers of isolated plants remain unfertilised, despite visits from many suitable pollinators.To produce seeds it must grow close to a friend or two.

A solitary plant makes a lovely garden specimen, but seed production matters if we are trying to re-introduce lost ecosystems or reproduce something like a natural environment in our own gardens. Don’t overlook the possibility of planting several quite close together if space is limited. This would result in something resembling a multi-stemmed large shrub or small tree.
Cuttsias grow best where there is constant soil moisture. Where this can be provided, this is an excellent plant for an understorey situation or a shady corner. Established plants do tolerate some drought, but would need to be helped along if the dry spell is prolonged.
They are claimed to be frost hardy.

There have been a few attempts to give this plant a “common” name. Some people call it elderberry (but it’s not an elderberry, and Australia has several genuine elderberry species which might even be growing side by side with this plant in the wild). Others call it native hydrangea (but it isn’t related to hydrangeas, and doesn’t resemble them much, as you can see). The name “native hydrangea” is more commonly used for the closely related Abrophyllum ornans, so like “elderberry, is not a particularly practical one. Others call it honey flower, which is very appropriate considering its strong nectar scent. Unfortunately, if you say “honey flower”, people are more likely to think you are speaking of another Australian plant, Lambertia formosa. Falling back on the botanical name, as we have done for grevilleas and quite a few other Australian plants, seems the best solution to achieving a user-friendly name for everyday use.