Brunonia australis R.Br.

Blue Pincushion

Variable perennial or annual herb to about 50 cm tall, often with silvery or brown hairs. Leaves mostly basal, widest above the middle, 4-14 cm long, 0.5-4.5 cm wide, narrowing gradually to the base. Flowers bisexual, regular, to 7 mm long, with bracts to 4 mm long; winter and spring. Calyx of 5 hairy, united sepals, with linear lobes to 5 mm long and hairy margins. Petal tube to 5 mm long, with bright blue, spreading, linear lobes. Stamens 5. Opposite the sepals and attached to the petals. Ovary superior, with 1 chamber containing a single ovule; style 2-lobed with a protective cup (stylar indusium). Fruit a nut enclosed in the persistent calyx.

All Australian states

Source: Spencer, R. (2002). Brunoniaceae. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 4. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 3. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.

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Distribution map
kingdom Plantae
phylum   Tracheophyta
class    Magnoliopsida
superorder     Asteranae
order      Asterales
family       Goodeniaceae
genus        Brunonia R.Br.