Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
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Heliotropium europaeum
Common heliotrope, Caterpillar weed, Potato weed
Boraginaceae
Woodland, grassy areas, and disturbed sites. Western Slopes and ACT. Occasionally elsewhere.
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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