Artanema fimbriatum (Hook. ex Graham) D.Don

Don, D. (1834) The British Flower Garden ser. 2, 3 : t. 23. Type: Australia.

Bearded Flower Shrub

Usually flowers and fruits as a herb but occasionally grows into a shrub about 1 m tall.

Leaf blades about 6-10 x 1.5-3 cm, upper surface hispid, petioles about 1-1.7 cm long. Lateral veins about 5-6, depressed on the upper surface. Teeth about 8-12 on each side.

Flowers about 20 mm diam., pedicels about 14-17 mm long. Sepals about 8-10 mm long. Corolla markedly zygomorphic. Corolla tube about 15 mm long. Stamens four, joined by the anthers to form two pairs. The filaments of one pair of stamens have a knob or process at the point of attachment to the corolla tube. Pollen white. Ovary green, seated on an orange-yellow disk. Style long, stigma with two unequal lobes.

Fruits globular, about 7-9 mm diam. Calyx persistent at the base and the style at the apex. Capsule dehiscing along two sutures. Seeds numerous, each elongate, angular, about 0.7 mm long. Testa tuberculate. Embryo about 0.5 mm long.

Cotyledons broadly ovate, about 4-5 x 4-5 mm. First pair of true leaves serrate, with 3 or 4 teeth on each side. Tooth-like hairs present on the stems and petioles. At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blade about 30-35 x 10-15 mm, margin coarsely toothed with about 8-11 teeth on each side. Both the upper and lower surfaces of the leaf blade sparsely strigose. Petiole difficult to distinguish because of the attenuate leaf base. Seed germination time 12 to 28 days.

Occurs in NEQ, CEQ and southwards as far as north eastern New South Wales. Altitudinal range in NEQ from near sea level to 1000 m. Grows in disturbed areas and along road clearings in well developed lowland, upland and mountain rain forest. Also occurs in Papua New Guinea.