Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants - Online edition

Dissotis rotundifolia (Sm.) Triana


Weed
Herb (herbaceous or woody, under 1 m tall)
Click/tap on images to enlarge
Leaves and Flower. © CSIRO
Leaves, flower and bud. © ATH
Flower. © ATH
Flower showing 10 stamens, 5 of each distinct form. © ATH
Bud and calyx. © ATH
Herbarium specimen. © CSIRO
Family

Triana, J.J. (1872) Transactions of the Linnean Society of London 28(1): 58.

Common name

Spanish Shawl; Trailing Tibouchina; Pink Lady

Stem

Decumbent herb rooting at the nodes with the erect branches up to 16 cm tall; stems 4-angled, sparsely hairy; internodes 50-55 mm long.

Leaves

Leaves ovate to ovate-lanceolate, 15-31 x 8-20 mm, margin slightly crenulate-ciliate, surfaces lightly to densely piloses. Petioles 5-12 mm long, upper surface flat, clothed in long simple reddish hairs.

Flowers

Inflorescence a solitary flower or rarely 2-4 -flowered cymes. pedicels 2-5 mm long. Calyx-tube cylindric-campanulate, 5-7 x 3-4 mm, sparsely to densely pilose, the hairs intermixed with linear-subulate caducous appendages 1-2 mm long and setose at the apex; lobes subulate-lanceolate, 5-6 x 1.5 mm, margin ciliate, setose at the apex; intersepalar appendages ligulate, 2-2.5 mm long, setose at the apex. Petals pink to purplish, obovate, 20-28 x 15-20 mm. Stamens 10, unequal; 5 articulated and purple, and 5 yellow. Ovary 8-9 x 8 mm, clothed in stalked (2-2.5 mm long) stellate hairs.

Fruit

Fructiferous receptacle 6-11 x 6-7·5 mm., ovoid to ovoid-ellipsoid. Capsule subequalling the receptacle, setose on the upper part. Seeds cochleate, ridged along the back and with a fringe of long papillae around the hilum.

Seedlings

Features not available.

Distribution and Ecology

An introduced specias and occasional escape from cultivation, recorded from CYP, NEQ and NT. Altitudinal range from near sea level to 100 m. Originally from Africa.

Natural History & Notes

Grown as an ornamental but has become naturalised in the NT, CYP and NEQ.

Synonyms
Osbeckia rotundifolia Sm., Cyclopaedia 25: 204(1813), Type: Afzelius s.n.; ; Sierra Leone (BM).
RFK Code
4164
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