Description: Perennial, tuberous herbs with cystoliths; branches often grooved longitudinally and/or flattened.
Leaves sometimes unequal in size at nodes.
Inflorescences variable, either flowers sessile in axillary clusters or flowers solitary, axillary and pedunculate, or in loose spikes; bracteoles shorter than calyx. Calyx 5-lobed. Corolla funnel-shaped. Stamens 4, rarely 3 or 6. Ovary with 6–10 ovules per loculus.
Capsule cylindrical, seed-bearing hooks conspicuous; seeds mostly 8–12, discoid to ellipsoid, with mucilaginous hairs.
Distribution and occurrence: World: 6 species, Australia & New Guinea. Australia: 6 species ( 5 species endemic), Qld, N.S.W., N.T., W.A.
Text by J. Everett, Key updated by B. Jones and K. L. Gibbons 1 Dec 2020.
Taxon concept:
| | Key to the species | |
| 1 | Leaves at nodes unequal in length, margins serrulate; calyx not more than 6.5mm long; corolla white with mauve in throat, tube 3–4.5mm long | Brunoniella spiciflora |
| Leaves at nodes equal or unequal in length, margins more or less entire; calyx at least 7mm long; corolla blue, tube at least 6mm long | 2 |
| 2 | Leaves at nodes usually unequal in length; flowers in dense, usually more than 2-flowered clusters in axils; calyx segments linear, less than 1 mm wide in basal half, margins with long bristly hairs | Brunoniella australis |
| Leaves at nodes usually equal in length; flowers solitary or in pairs in axils; calyx segments more or less lanceolate, more than 1 mm wide in basal half, margins with short, often appressed, hairs
Back to 1 | Brunoniella pumilio |
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