Family: Campanulaceae
Wahlenbergia
Citation:
Schrader ex Roth, Nov. Pl. Sp. 399 (1821).
Derivation: After Göran Wahlenberg, 1780-1851, a Swedish botanist.
Synonymy: Not Applicable Common name: Native bluebells.
Description:
Annual or perennial herbs with a tap root and sometimes rhizomes; aerial stems one to many, erect or ascending, branched or unbranched, terete; leaves alternate or opposite, sessile, obovate to linear, decreasing in size up the stem, margins flat or undulate, usually bearing small callus-teeth.
Flowers terminal, in loose cymes or solitary on long stalks; sepals usually 5, persistent to the fruiting stage: corolla campanulate or rotate, regular, usually 5-lobed, usually blue; stamens usually 5, free: ovary inferior, 2-, 3- or 5-celled; style 2-~ 3- or 5-fid, the upper part covered with pollen-presenting hairs.
Fruit a capsule dehiscing through apical valves; seeds many.
Distribution:
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About 200 species are widely distributed, especially in the Southern Hemisphere; 26 species are found in Australia. The treatment here largely follows P. J. Smith (1976) Ph.D. thesis, University of Sydney.
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Biology:
No text
Key to Species:
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1. Corolla rotate, the lobes more than 4 times as long as the tube; style capitate, contracted just below the stigmatic lobes by more than half its width |
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2. Capsules 2-5 mm long hemispherical growing on river banks and, flood plains beside the River Murray and its tributaries |
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W. fluminalis 3. |
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2. Capsules 4-12.5 mm long, elongated-obconical; growing in grassy sites in various types of vegetation in the higher rainfall regions of the State |
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W. multicaulis 9. |
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1. Corolla campanulate, the obes less than 4 times as long as the tube; style uncontracted or contracted about halfway down by less than half its width |
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3. Lower leaves alternate |
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4. Corolla lobes more than twice as long as the corolla tube, 5-9 mm long; style contracted about halfway down |
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5. Much-branched more or less glabrous plants; lower leaves obovate or oblanceolate- corolla tube funnel-shaped, arid regions |
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W. aridicola 1. |
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5. Few-stemmed hirsute plants; lower leaves linear or oblanceolate; corolla tube cylindrical; higher rainfall regions |
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W. litticola 7. |
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4. Corolla lobes less than twice as long as the tube; style uncontracted |
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6. Corolla lobes 6-13 mm long |
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7. Capsules 4-9 mm long, elongated-obconical, lower leaves typically linear and glabrous |
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W. communis 2. |
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7. Capsules 1.5-5 mm long, hemispherical, lower leaves typically obovate and hirsute. |
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W. queenslandica 11. |
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6. Corolla lobes 1.5-7 mm long. |
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8. Capsules obconical; stems sender; higher rainfall regions W. gracilis 5 |
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8. Capsules globular or cylindrical, appearing swollen; stems robust; arid and semi-arid regions |
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3. Lower leaves opposite. W. tumidifructa 13 |
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9. Annuals; corolla lobes 0.5-5 mm long; sepals narrowly oblong, obtuse |
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10. Capsules globular or ellipsoidal; corolla lobes less than twice as long as the corolla tube; style 3-fid |
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W. gracilenta 4. |
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10. Capsules elongated-obconical; corolla lobes c. 3 times as long as the corolla tube; style 2-fid. |
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W. preissii 10. |
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9. Perennials; corolla lobes 6-20 mm long; sepals narrowly triangular, acute |
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11. Lower leaves 3-13mm wide, broader than linear, margins typically undulate; capsules ellipsoidal or globular, plants typically |
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W. stricta 12. |
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11. Lower leaves 1-4 mm wide, linear, margins flat capsules obconical or elongated-obconical; plants typically glabrous |
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12. Plants tufted and much-branched; leaves scattered along the stems, acute; flowers in loose cymes; corollas often yellowish-brown on the outside; corolla tube cylindrical |
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W. luteola 8. |
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12. Plants rhizomatous, the aerial stems seldom branched; leaves crowded towards the base of the stem, obtuse; flowers solitary on long stalks; corollas blue on the out-side; corolla tube funnel-shaped |
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W. gymnoclada 6. |
Author:
Not yet available
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