Lindernia crustacea (L.) F.Muell.

Mueller, F.J.H. von (1882) Systematic Census of Australian Plants : 97.

Much branched annuals, 10-20 cm tall. Branches widely spreading, subquadrangular, deeply sulcate, glabrous.

Leaf blades about 12-22 x 10-17 mm, petioles 2-3 mm long. Leaf blades mainly glabrous except for a few hairs along the veins on the underside. Lateral veins 4-5 on each side of the midrib.

Flowers solitary on a stalk 20-30 mm long. Flower stalk sparsely hairy and square in transverse section. Calyx green, tube ca. 3 mm long, lobes 1-1.5 mm long. Corolla tube ca. 6 mm long, lobes 1-2 mm long, rounded at the apex. Corolla 2-lipped, lower lip 3-lobed with a deep purple marking near the throat. Upper lip 2-lobed but the lobes fused together almost to the margin. Staminal filaments of the lower anthers shortly spurred. Ovary green, ca.1.5 mm long with a yellowish disk at the base. Style about 4 mm long. Stigma lanceolate.

Capsule broadly ellipsoid, almost as long as persistent calyx. Seeds pale yellow-brown, subglobose, scrobiculate.

Features not available.

Occurs in the WA, NT, CYP, NEQ, CEQ and southwards as far south as south east Queensland. Altitudinal range from near sea level to 950 m. Grows in rainforest, vineforest, Eucalypt woodland, melaleuca woodland and swamp, heathland and wooded grassland. Also from Malesia, Asia and New Guinea.

Sometimes a weed of cultivation.