Common name: Prickly Woodruff
Asperula scoparia Hook.f. APNI* Synonyms: Asperula oligantha var. scoparia (Hook.f.) Maiden & Betche APNI*
Description: Herbs to 30 cm high; internodes to 30 mm long but mostly 2–10 mm long; stem angles with a moderately dense hair layer; hairs spreading or slightly retrorse.
Leaves and stipules in whorls of 6, spreading or variously angled forwards, narrow elliptic, lanceolate to narrow-lanceolate, 3–12 mm long, 0.3–2.0 mm wide, apex acuminate with a straight hyaline mucro, midrib prominent, lamina sparsely scabrous; margins flat, recurved, less often revolute.
Inflorescence terminal or in upper-most axils, few- to several-flowered. Corolla glabrous, ovary circular to slightly oblate; male flowers 3–6 mm long with tube 1.5–3.5 mm long; female flowers 2–4 mm long with tube 0.8–2 mm long, style 1.6–4 mm long with arms 0.3–1.2 mm long.
Fruit 1.7–2.5 mm long.
Flowering: Spring to early summer.
Distribution and occurrence:
NSW subdivisions: NT, CT, ST
Other Australian states: Vic. Tas. S.A.
Text by Louisa Murray (August 2011)
Taxon concept: Thompson, I.R. (2009). A revision of Asperula and Galium (Rubieae: Rubiaceae) in Australia. Muelleria 27, p59-60.
| | Key to the subspecies | |
| 1 | Leaves of flowering branches less than or equal to 1 mm wide, not acuminate into hyaline tip; indumentum of stem-angles generally dense, of hairs 0.1–0.2 mm long | subsp. scoparia |
| Leaves of flowering branches generally > 1 mm wide, acuminate into a hyaline tip; indumentum of stem-angles absent or variably dense, of papillae c. 0.05 mm long | subsp. subglabra |
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data
***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.
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