Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants - Online edition

Mitrasacme paludosa R.Br.


Herb (herbaceous or woody, under 1 m tall)
Click/tap on images to enlarge
Flowers and immature fruit. © R.L. Barrett
Buds, flowers and fruit. © R.L. Barrett
Herbarium specimen. © CSIRO
Family

Brown, R. (1810) Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae : 453.

Stem

Annual to sometimes perennial, prostrate, procumbent or ± erect herb, 5-25 cm high; branching mainly from the base, branches weak, sparsely to moderately hairy; hairs minute, ± appressed. Stipules in the form of a sheath between the leaves.

Leaves

Lamina about 4-10x 1-2 mm, clothed with hairs on both the upper and lower surfaces; petioles very short or absent.

Flowers

Flowers solitary in upper axils or terminal, arranged in small leafy umbels; pedicels 3-10 mm long; sparsely to densely hairy, with minute, appressed, antrorse hairs. Calyx campanulate, 4-angled, 1.5-2.8 mm long, 4-lobed; lobes about equal to tube. Corolla broadly funnel-shaped, shortly bearded in mouth, 3-5 mm long; petal lobes 1.5-2 mm long, obtuse, reflexed. Stamens inserted on corolla tube, filament 0.3-0.5 mm long, anther apiculum recurved and fleshy. Ovary ca. 0.5 mm long.

Fruit

Capsule 1.4-2 mm diam., styles fused for most of their length forming a persistent horn on fruit. Seeds ellipsoid, intruded on the one side, brown, finely reticulate.

Seedlings

Features not available.

Distribution and Ecology

Occurs in NEQ, CEQ and south to New South Wales. Altitudinal range from near sea level to 1600 m. Grows in moist areas in Eucalypt forest and heathland.

Synonyms
Mitrasacme paludosa f. typica Domin, Bibliotheca Botanica 89: 1069(1828). Mitrasacme paludosa R.Br. f. paludosa, Bibliotheca Botanica 89: 1069(1828). Mitrasacme paludosa f. diffusa (Benth.) Domin, Bibliotheca Botanica 89: 1069(1828). Mitrasacme paludosa f. pilosula (F.Muell.) Domin, Bibliotheca Botanica 89: 1069(1828). Mitrasacme diffusa Benth., Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, Botany 1: 93(1857), Type: Ad Stradbrooke River, Australiae orientalis (Fraser in herb. Hooker). Mitrasacme pilosula F.Muell., Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae 1(5): 134(1859), Type: In campis undulatis subarenosis ad flumen Boyd.
RFK Code
4091
Copyright © CSIRO 2020, all rights reserved.