Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Gomphocarpus fruticosus

Flowering stem. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, near Bulli

Seed case and leaves. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, near Bulli

Open seed case with seeds. Photographer H. Zell, Germany

Common name

Narrow-leaved cotton bush, Swan plant

Family

Apocynaceae

Where found

Open woodland, grassy areas, roadsides, disturbed sites, and along streams. Blue Mountains and the Sydney area, and south to Jervis Bay. Occasionally elsewhere. Doubtfully naturalised in the ACT.

Notes

Introduced shrub to 2 m high. Stems hairy with fine hairs when young, becoming hairless with age. Leaves opposite each other, sometimes alternating up the stems, 4–12.5 cm long, 5–15 mm wide, soft, smooth, tapering to a fine point. Flowers white or cream, about 20 mm long, 12–13 mm in diameter, tubular, with 5 lobes, in 3–10-flowered clusters. Flowering: most of the year. Balloon-like fruit oval, 4–6 cm long, 2–3.5 cm diameter, slightly curved, gradually narrowed into a short, curved beak. Poisonous.

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