Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Commersonia dasyphylla

Flowering branches. Photographer Don Wood, Eurobodalla Regional Botanic Gardens north of Moruya

Flowers, seed cases, and leaves. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, Australian National Botanic Gardens, Canberra, ACT

Shrub. Photographer Rodger Elliot, © 2021 Rodger Elliot, VICFLORA

Line drawings  (as Rulingia dasyphylla). g. leaves; h. flower. M Moir, National Herbarium of Victoria, © 2021 Royal Botanic Gardens Board 

Common name

Kerrawang

Family

Malvaceae

Where found

Rocky sites, wet gullies, and along streams. Coast, ranges, and the eastern edge of the tablelands.

Notes

Shrub to 4 m tall. Stems stellate hairy (needs a hand lens or a macro app on your phone/tablet to see). Leaves alternating up the stems, usually 1-7 cm long, 5-30 mm wide, upper surface with medium density to dense white stellate hairs, usually becoming hairless or rough and wrinkly with impressed veins, lower surface with dense white stellate hairs, base slightly cordate, margins coarsely toothed, sometimes lobed; tips pointed. Juvenile leaves often 3-lobed, to 10 cm long, 60 mm wide. Flowers with 5 petals, white or pink with reddish markings, each 2-3 mm long, Flowers in few flowered to 10 or more flowered clusters. Flowers Spring to Summer. Often flowers when less than 1 m tall.

Was Rulingia dasyphylla.  

Family was Sterculiaceae.

Endangered Vic. Listed in the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act, Vic

PlantNET description:   http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Commersonia~dasyphylla (accessed 7 January, 2021)