Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Lasiopetalum rufum

Leafy stem with flower buds and flower. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, Royal Botanic Gardens Mt Annan, near Campbelltown

Flower buds. Photographer Jackie Miles, Deua National Park

Backs of leaves. Photographer John Tann, Royal National Park south of Sydney

Shrub. Photographer John Tann, Royal National Park south of Sydney

Common name

A velvet-bush

Family

Malvaceae

Where found

Coast and ranges north of Wollongong. Ranges west of Moruya.

Notes

Shrub to 1.5 m high. Stems covered with rusty stellate hairs (needs a hand lens or a macro app on your phone/tablet to see). Leaves alternating up the stems, mostly 4–6 cm long, sometimes shorter, 2-4 mm wide, upper surface hairless to finely hairy, lower surface white stellate hairy (needs a hand lens or a macro app on your phone/tablet to see), secondary veins not visible, margins rolled down. Flowers green or reddish outside, often reddish within, stellate hairy (needs a hand lens or a macro app on your phone/tablet to see) on both surfaces except for the margins, with 5 'petals' mostly 4–5 mm long, joined at the base. Bracteoles on the flower stalks linear, not close under the flowers. Flowers in mostly 2- or 3-flowered clusters. Flowering: spring.  

Family was Sterculiaceae.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Lasiopetalum~rufum  (accessed 22 January, 2021)