Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Comesperma ericinum

Flowering stems. Photographer Don Wood, Brooks Hill Reserve near Bungendore

Flowering stems. Photographer Don Wood, Jervis Bay Territory

Flowering shrub. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, Yanunbeyan State Conservation Area, near Captain's Flat

Common name

Pyramid flower, Heath milkwort

Family

Polygalaceae

Where found

Dry forest and damp heath. Widespread.

Notes

Shrub to 2 m high. Stems reddish, hairless to bristly. Leaves alternating up the stems, 0.5–2.5 cm long, 1–4 mm wide, surfaces different colours, lower surface glaucous, midrib usually apparent, tips usually continued into a short, curved down point, margins curled or rolled down except near the tips. Flowers purple or lilac-pink or white, 4–8 mm long, with 3 petals in the middle of the flower, the largest looking like the keel of a pea flower, and 2 coloured sepals that look like the wings of a pea flower. Keel yellow- or cream-tipped. Wing sepals 4–8.5 mm long. Flower clusters slender, often in groups near the tops of the stems. Flowers throughout the year, mostly Oct–Dec. Seed cases with a narrow wing.

All native plants on unleased land in the ACT are protected.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Comesperma~ericinum (accessed 1 April 2021)