Sphagneticola trilobata (L.) Pruski

Asteraceae

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

Singapore Daisy; Bay Biscayne Creeping Oxeye

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

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.

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

Features not available.

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.

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.

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