Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Goodenia hederacea

Flowering plants (subsp. hederacea). Photographer Don Wood, between Araluen and Moruya

Line drawing (subsp. hederacea). d. plant. E Mayfield, National Herbarium of Victoria, © 2021 Royal Botanic Gardens Board

Flowering stems (subsp. alpestris). Photographer Don Wood, Deua National Park

Line drawing (subsp. alpestris). c. plant. E Mayfield, National Herbarium of Victoria, © 2021 Royal Botanic Gardens Board

Common name

Forest goodenia, Ivy goodenia

Family

Goodeniaceae

Where found

subsp. hederacea:  Forest and woodland. Widespread, mostly north from Deua National Park.

subsp. alpestris:  Forest, woodland, grassland, and herbfields, at higher altitudes. ACT, the mountains to the west, Kosciuszko National Park. Tablelands and the western edge of the ranges, mostly south of the Hume Highway. Mostly in mountainous areas.

Notes

Perennial herb to 0.8  high or prostrate to sprawling. Stems cottony hairy when young. Leaves often basal (only in young plants in subsp. alpestris) and alternating along the stems, 0.6–10 cm long, 5–30 mm wide, broad to narrow, margins toothed, scalloped, almost lobed, or entire. Stem leaves smaller than the basal leaves. Flowers yellow, often with purplish markings in the throat, 8–15 mm long, tubular, with 5 lobes, 2-lipped. Flowers on individual stalks to 50 mm long, in clusters of 1-3. Flowers most of the year. Seeds elliptic-oblong, about 2.5 mm long, pale yellow to brownish, bristly.

subsp. hederacea:  Stems not rooting at the nodes. Leaves round to oval or narrow-oblong, 1–10 cm long, 5–20 mm wide, margins obscurely toothed to entire, sparsely hairy to hairless on both surfaces, or greenish and hairy on lower surface at least when young; leaf stalks 3–10 mm long. Flower stalks mostly 5–15 mm long. Flowers 10–15 mm long, 10-20 mm in diameter. Flowers in clusters of 1-3.

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

subsp. alpestris:  Stems usually rooting at the nodes, plants matted, to 1 m diameter. Leaves round to broadly oval, 0.6-4 cm long, 6-30 mm wide, margins scalloped to coarsely toothed, sometimes lobed at the base, usually whitish and densely hairy on the undersurface; leaf stalks mostly 15–30 mm long. Flower stalks 10–20 mm long. Flowers 8–13 mm long, 10-15 mm in diameter. Flowers in clusters of 1-2.

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

PlantNET description of species and key to subspecies:   http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Goodenia~hederacea  (accessed 6 April 2021)