Family: Phrymaceae
Peplidium muelleri
Citation:
Benth., Fl. Aust. 4:500 (1868).
Synonymy: Not Applicable Common name: None
Description:
Glabrous to densely eglandular-puberulent annual or (northern Aust.) perennial, with branches to 20 cm long (some aquatic situations), usually to 10 cm long; leaves fleshy, with the petiole to 5 mm long, the blade ovate to broadly so, to 5 mm long sometimes (aquatic sites) to 11 mm.
Flowers solitary or (northern Aust.) 1 or 2 in bract axils; pedicels 0-2 rarely 5 mm long; calyx campanulate or narrowly so, 1.5-3 mm long; corolla 2-lipped or almost rotate, the tube hardly exserted from the calyx, the limb horizontal or upper lip somewhat upward-directed, purple, pink or white, the lower lobes 1-1.5 mm long, slightly longer than the upper, with a red to brown or deep red-purple palate of 2 raised processes behind; stamens 2.
Capsule ellipsoid or broadly so, 1.5-3 mm long; seeds 0.4-0.8 mm long, smooth (?when young) or furrowed.
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Image source: fig. 586A in Jessop J.P. & Toelken H.R. (Ed.) 1986. Flora of South Australia (4th edn).
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Distribution:
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Sand to clay, sometimes saline, in or around pools or watercourses.
W.Aust.; N.T.
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Conservation status:
native
Flowering time: July, Sept. (April — Sept., Jan. in arid W.Aust., N.T,).
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SA Distribution Map based
on current data relating to
specimens held in the
State Herbarium of South Australia
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Biology:
No text
Taxonomic notes:
In W.Aust. is a closely allied form with blue flowers and a yellow palate. These widespread western and central arid Australian populations may be specifically distinct from the subtropical typical taxon, differing in duration, flower number and flower size.
Author:
Not yet available
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