Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

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Lasiopetalum rufum

Common name

A velvet-bush

Family

Malvaceae

Where found

Coast and ranges north of Wollongong. Ranges west of Moruya.

Notes

Shrub to 1.5 m high. Stems covered with rusty stellate hairs (needs a hand lens or a macro app on your phone/tablet to see). Leaves alternating up the stems, mostly 4–6 cm long, sometimes shorter, 2-4 mm wide, upper surface hairless to finely hairy, lower surface white stellate hairy (needs a hand lens or a macro app on your phone/tablet to see), secondary veins not visible, margins rolled down. Flowers green or reddish outside, often reddish within, stellate hairy (needs a hand lens or a macro app on your phone/tablet to see) on both surfaces except for the margins, with 5 'petals' mostly 4–5 mm long, joined at the base. Bracteoles on the flower stalks linear, not close under the flowers. Flowers in mostly 2- or 3-flowered clusters. Flowering: spring.  

Family was Sterculiaceae.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Lasiopetalum~rufum  (accessed 22 January, 2021)