Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Lasiopetalum ferrugineum
Common name
Rusty petals, Rusty velvet bush
Family
Malvaceae
Where found
Forest, heath, and rocky areas. Mostly coast, ranges, and the eastern edge of the tablelands. (both subspecies).
Notes
Shrub to 1.2 m tall. Young branches covered with greyish-white or rusty stellate hairs (needs a hand lens or a macro app on your phone/tablet to see). Leaves 2-19 cm long, alternating up the stems, margins more or less entire or shallowly wavy, often slightly curved down, upper surface hairless to sparsely hairy, lower surface white to rusty-tomentose; veins prominent on both surfaces, impressed above, raised and rusty-coloured below, bases sometimes broadly cordate. Flowers cream to light green or brown inside, light green or brown outside, stellate hairy (needs a hand lens or a macro app on your phone/tablet to see) inside and outside, 4-10 mm long, with 5 'petals' joined at the base, in dense 5 to many-flowered clusters. Flowers Spring.
Family was Sterculiaceae.
var. ferrugineum: Most leaves less than 10 mm wide. Leaves 5-12 mm wide, the bases tapering to the stalk, square or lobed; margins entire to shallowly lobed or wavy.
Vulnerable Vic.
var. cordatum: Most leaves more than 10 mm wide. Leaves 8-40 mm wide, the bases cordate or lobed; margins mostly entire, rarely shallowly wavy.
Vulnerable Vic.
Plants collected in Victoria are somewhat intermediate between these two varieties (accessed 26 April 2021)..
PlantNET description of species and key to varieties: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Lasiopetalum~ferrugineum (accessed 26 April 2021)
This identification key and fact sheets are available as a free mobile application:
