Malvastrum chillagoense Domin

Domin, K. (1928) Bibliotheca Botanica 89(4): 940. Type: Nord-Queensland: Auf dem Karstkalkhugel Lions Head Bluff bei Chillagoe sehr verbreitet (DOMIN II. 1910). Holo: PR.

Usually flowers and fruits as a herb but can grow into a shrub about 1 m tall.

Both the upper and lower surfaces of the leaf blade, petioles and twigs clothed in stellate hairs. Stipules linear, about 3-6 mm long, hairy. Leaf blades about 1.4-7.5 x 0.4-5 cm with about 11-14 teeth on each side, petioles about 0.3-2.5 cm long. Twig bark strong and fibrous when stripped.

Pedicels short, about 0.5-1 mm long. Flowers about 7-8 mm diam. Epicalyx segments about 3-4, each about 3-4 mm long. Calyx about 3.5-6 mm long, outer surface densely clothed in long, simple prostrate hairs and much shorter stellate hairs. Petals about 7-8 mm long. Stamens about 15-20, staminal tube about 2-5 mm long, filaments about 0.7-0.8 mm long, anthers wider than long opening upwards. Pollen grains minutely spinulose. Ovary 7-10-locular. Style with about 7-10 branches.

Fruits about 3-4 mm diam., surrounded by the persistent stellate hairy calyx, each fruit consisting of about 7-9 mericarps. Seeds about 2 x 1-1.5 mm, testa leathery. Cotyledons folded or rolled, about 2 mm long.

Cotyledons orbicular, about 6-8 mm diam., petioles about as long as the cotyledon blade. First pair of leaves cordate to orbicular, margins crenate, each 'tooth' with an aristate tip. At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blade triangular to ovate, about 55 x 35 mm, apex apiculate, base obtuse to cordate, margin crenate to dentate, petiole about 10 mm long. Stipules filiform, hairy, about 4-5 mm long. Stem, petiole and both the upper and lower surfaces of the leaf blade densely clothed in white stellate hairs. Seed germination time 122 days.

Occurs in NEQ and the northern end of CEQ. Altitudinal range uncertain, collected at an altitude of 400 m. Grows in vine thickets on limestone.