Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Heliotropium europaeum
Common name
Common heliotrope, Caterpillar weed, Potato weed
Family
Boraginaceae
Where found
Woodland, grassy areas, and disturbed sites. Western Slopes and ACT. Occasionally elsewhere.
Notes
Introduced annual herb, to 0.4 m tall or sprawling, finely hairy with short grey hairs (appearing yellowish on new growth), or hairy with wart-based greyish hairs. Leaves with a somewhat unpleasant smell when rubbed, alternating up the stems, 1-7 cm long, 5-30 mm wide, hairy, sometimes rough, tips blunt. Flowers 2-5 mm long, white, often with a yellow throat, tubular, with five lobes, the lobes about as long as the tube. Flowers in dense one-sided, usually branched, spikes. Flowers Spring to Autumn.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Heliotropium~europaeum (accessed 19 January, 2021)
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