Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Schenkia australis
Common name
Spike centaury
Family
Gentianaceae
Where found
Woodland. grassy places, and near water. Widespread.
Notes
Annual or rarely biennial herb to 0.45 m tall. Basal stems 4-angular, moderately branched above. Stems hairless. Basal leaves withering early. Stem leaves opposite each other, 1-3 cm long, 2-20 mm wide, hairless, stalkless. Flowers 9-12 mm long, pink to red, rarely white, tubular, usually with five lobes, each 2.5-5 mm long. Style almost knob-like; stigma lobes diamond-shaped to fan-shaped, not fleshy. Calyx 5-8 mm long, about two-thirds the length of corolla tube. Flowers Spring to Autumn. Seed case elliptical to oval.
Was Centaurium spicatum, then Schenkia spicata.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Schenkia~australis (accessed 6 February, 2021)
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