Asystasia sp. Newcastle Bay (L.J.Brass 18671)

Family

Acanthaceae

Botanical Name

Asystasia sp. Newcastle Bay (L.J.Brass 18671)

() : . Type: ?.

Synonyms

Asystasia sp. Font Hills (B.Gray 8039), : (), Type: ?.

Stem

Stem ca. 4-angled, clothed in white hairs.

Leaves

Leaf blades 20-45 x 15-28 mm, upper and lower surfaces clothed in hairs. Petioles 3-15 mm long, narrowly winged, clothed in hairs.

Flowers

Calyx lobes shortly fused at the base, lobes narrowly triangular to linear, 6-8 x 0.8-1 mm, clothed in long pale hairs. Corolla tube bell-shaped, 13-14 mm long, upper two lobes fused towards the apex, 7-8 x 6 mm, lateral lobes ca. 7 x 5 mm, lower lip 7-8 x 9 mm, mauve with purple markings. Anthers ca. 1.5 mm long, filaments ca. 7 mm long, Ovary ca. 2 x 1 mm, base surrounded by a cream to yellow shallow cup-like disk. Style slender, 9-11 mm long. Stigma small, globular and terminal.

Fruit

Fruits 13-14 x 3.5-4 mm, brown and hairy when ripe. Seeds 3-4 per fruit, each seed flat, 3-4 mm diam. Testa surface ornate with raised decorations particularly towards the margin.

Seedlings

Cotyledons orbicular, ca. 3 mm diam.

Distribution and Ecology

Occurs in the Bakers Blue Mountain and Mt. Molloy area. Altitudinal range from 400m. Grows in margin of evergreen and deciduous vine thickets on steep bolder strewn slopes.

Natural History

Plants are seasonally deciduous, dying back to perennial rootstock [pers.comm. Garry Sankowsky, 2009].