Mystery Plant

[David Lyttle]

Can anyone tell m what this plant is? It forms quite dense mats on the forest floor

[shelagh]

I don't think it's going to be a Forrest Medal winner David

[David Lyttle]

I don't think it's going to be a Forrest Medal winner David

I am sure it is going to have a story just as interesting as all the beauties that grace the show bench. (especially as I cant identify it even to family level)

[Gail]

The leaves look like a Glechoma.  Glechoma hederacea (ground ivy) which has bigger violet flowers is a weed here, quickly forming a carpet.

[Maggi Young]

A strong similarity indeed, Gail..... do you think we can safely say the mystery plant will be in the Lamiaceae /Labiatae ?

I am puzzled by the strange form of the small flowers with their very exagerated bent tubes.....not something I recognise at all   The corolla seems quite open, flat and round..... with no pronounced "lip" ...... odd!


 Hmmm.... another thought.... the stems do not look "square"... but round..... .... I may be barkingup the wrong family tree here!! 

[t00lie]

Hello David

One of the NZ hydrocotyles ?

Cheers Dave ----currently in Bath UK,(unfortunately without a pair of swimming tights).

[Maggi Young]

Hydrocotyle = pennyworts... in the apiaceae /umbelliferae ? 
Structure isn't right for that. is it?

http://www.royalsociety.org.nz/media/publications-journals-nzjb-1982-017.pdf 

[David Lyttle]

Hi Dave, Looking forward to catching up with you when you arrive back. It is not a Hydrocotyle.

 Gail, Maggi, I think I have been off my game a bit. After sleeping on it I am confident the mystery plant is Australina pusilla a member of the Urticaceae.

[Maggi Young]

Never heard of it! Went for a search.... doesn't look  anything like the type shown in
this Plantnet page...
http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Australina~pusilla   

[Lesley Cox]

Bristles on the leaves should have told you that David. Not that I could. 

[David Lyttle]

Maggi,

Try this link http://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora_details.asp?ID=2062

[Maggi Young]

Thanks, David!

[Heather P]

Hi, People.  I also looked it up because I never heard of it--I look up a lot of plants--and I have copied below one item I found:

"On Oct 16, 2007, kennedyh from Churchill, Victoria
Australia (Zone 10a) wrote:
This tiny little plant is quite rare in mainland Australia, being restricted to a small part of the Wilsons Promontory National Park and a small area in the Otway Ranges, both in Victoria. It is apparently much commoner in the island state of Tasmania and also in New Zealand.
I was lucky enough to see it recently while helping with a plant survey at "The Prom", although it gave me a great deal of difficulty identifying it, despite being very familiar with its larger cousin (Australina pusilla subsp.muellerina) which is quite common."

Changing the subject, which perhaps I should instead start a new post, I found a stranger in my garden that had come with the topsoil.  It turned out to be sharp leaved fluellen.  I got it to seed and grow again this summer, but is it going to be a weedy resident?  We already have scarlet pimpernel that someone introduced to the area years ago.  Cheers.  Heather P
 
 

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[Maggi Young]

Well, I had to look up Sharp Leaved Fluellen.... I had never heard of it!
I found this link:
http://www.bioimages.org.uk/html/p2/p28933.php  

I'd have thought if it were really weedy I would have heard about it.... so perhaps my ignorance is a  good sign, Heather?