Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Opercularia aspera

Flowering stem. Photographer Jackie Miles

Flowering stems. Photographer Don Wood, Tomakin

Stems with young and open seed cases. Photographer Jackie Miles

Common name

Coarse stinkweed

Family

Rubiaceaae

Where found

Dry forest, heath, and stream banks. Widespread. Few records from Kosciuszko National Park.

Notes

Shrub to 2 m or more high or prostrate, sometimes tangled amongst other vegetation. Stems ribbed, hairless to densely hairy, often rough. Leaves opposite each other, usually 1–6 cm long, 5–20 mm wide, tips with long points, upper surface rough to hairy, lower surface hairless to hairy or rough, particularly on the veins, margins flat to curved down. Flowers 2–4 mm long, with 3-5 petals more or less fused at their bases, in 10–30 flowered heads. Heads on curved down stalks mostly 5–15 mm long. Flowering: spring–summer.

Definite identification of species of Opercularia in part requires microscopic examination of the seeds, beyond the scope of this key.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Opercularia~aspera  (accessed 29 January, 2021)