Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants - Online edition

Sphagneticola trilobata (L.) Pruski


Weed
Herb (herbaceous or woody, under 1 m tall)
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Herbarium specimen. © DERM
Family

Acevedo-Rodriguez, P. (1996) Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden 78: 114.

Common name

Singapore Daisy; Bay Biscayne Creeping Oxeye

Stem

Mat-forming perennial herb to 70 cm high, with stems to 2 m or more long.

Leaves

Leaf blades 55-63 x 24-45 mm, petioles nil or very short. Both the upper and lower surfaces of the leaf blade clothed in hairs.

Flowers

Flower heads 2.8-3.2 mm diam., subtended by green bracts about 7 mm long. Ray florets: Usually about 12 per inflorescence. Calyx, i.e. pappus, about 1 mm long. Corolla consists of one lobe about 12 x 6 mm with a short tubular base about 1.5 mm long. Ovary about 2 mm long. Style + stigma about 5 mm long. Ovule solitary. Disk florets: Flowers 2-2.5 mm diam. Calyx, i.e. pappus, about 1 mm long. Corolla tube about 5 mm long, lobes about 1 mm long, clothed in hairs on the inner surface. Anthers fused together, about 2 mm long, filaments about 1 mm long. Pollen yellow-orange. Ovary 2-3 mm long,. Style + stigma about 7 mm long. Ovule solitary.

Fruit

Fruit strongly biconvex 3-4-angled, apices rostrate, each bearing central neck or boss.

Seedlings

Features not available.

Distribution and Ecology

Occurs in WA, NT, CYP, NEQ, CEQ and southwards into central coast New South Wales. Altitudinal range from 1-680 m. Found along roads through raiforest, in rainforest margins, moist places in open Eucalypt forest, vine thicket and in various types of woodland andswampy areas.

Natural History & Notes

A high priority weed of disturbed places. It has a very wide ecological tolerance range, and seems to be equally suited to dry and moist sites.

Synonyms
Wedelia trilobata (L.) Hitchc., Missouri Botanical Gardens Report 4: 99(1893). Silphium trilobatum L., Systema Naturae Edn. 10 2: 1233(1759), Type: not cited.
RFK Code
4115
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