Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Colobanthus nivicola
Common name
Soft Cushion-plant
Family
Caryophyllaceae
Where found
Moist areas of alpine herbfields and very low shrubland in alpine feldmark, and disturbed areas. Kosciuszko National Park.
Notes
Perennial herb forming cushions 2-15 cm diameter which can coalesce into large mats. Hairless. Leaves opposite each other, crowded, overlapping, about 0.3-0.6 cm long, 0.5-0.8 mm wide, somewhat soft, almost erect, with a flattened midrib, flat margins, and tips with slender but not sharp points. Flowers with 4-6 pointed sepals, free from each other, about 1.5-3 mm long, and 0 petals. Flower stalks just below the flowers slender, 3–10 mm long, at least as long as the calyx. Flowers single. Flowering: summer.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Colobanthus~nivicola (accessed 7 January, 2021)
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