Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Salpichroa origanifolia
Common name
Pampas Lily-of-the-valley, Cock's-eggs
Family
Solanaceae
Where found
Urban bushland, gardens, roadsides, disturbed sites, and coastal environs. Mainly Sydney area. Occasional elsewhere.
Notes
Introduced perennial herb, initially upright, then scrambling to creeping, rhizomatous, with a woody rootstock. Stems to 3 metres long. Expanded tops of the flower stalks fleshy. Fruit fleshy. Young stems cylindrical, older stems 4-angled. Sparsely to densely hairy throughout. Leaves alternating up the stems, often 2 per node but not opposite each other, unequal in size, 0.5–5 cm long, 5–35 mm wide, hairy with fine hairs, margins entire, tips blunt or rounded. Flowers white or cream, 6–10 mm long, with an urn-shaped tube, with 5 curled back lobes each 1.5–2 mm long. Flowers single, occasionally in pairs, nodding. Fruit white or pale yellow, translucent, elongated to oval, 10-20 mm long. Flowers mostly spring–autumn.
Noxious weed Vic.
PlantNET description with line drawings: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Salpichroa~origanifolia (accessed 6 February, 2021)
This identification key and fact sheets are available as a free mobile application:
