Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Gomphocarpus physocarpus
Common name
Balloon Cotton Bush
Family
Apocynaceae
Where found
Woodland, pastures, grasslands, disturbed sites, roadsides, and along streams. Coastal north from Moruya. Occasionally elsewhere.
Notes
Introduced shrub to 2.5 m high. Stems covered in soft hairs, becoming hairless with age. Leaves opposite each other, sometimes almost opposite each other or crowded near the ends of the stems, 3.5–12 cm long, 5–20 mm wide, soft, smooth, tapering to a fine point. Flowers white, cream to greenish cream, or pinkish, 12–13 mm in diameter, tubular, with 5 lobes. Flowers in 4–12-flowered clusters. Flowering: spring–autumn. Balloon-like fruit round or almost round, 4.5–7.5 cm long, 4–7 cm diameter, not curved, abruptly pointed, the beak very short, inconspicuous, and sunken into the notched tips of the fruit. Poisonous.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Gomphocarpus~physocarpus (accessed 22 January, 2021)
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