Flowers and leaves. Photo: Don Wood, planted at Scotia Sanctuary, NSW

Shrub. Photo: Don Wood, planted at Scotia Sanctuary, NSW

Common Name

Sturt's Desert Rose

Family

Malvaceae

Notes

Shrub to 3m tall.  Leaves alternating up the stems, 2-6cm long, to 60mm wide, oval to round, hairless, entire to deeply 3-5 lobed, with a straight or curved point.  Flowers pink or mauve to light purple, deep purple at the base, with 5 petals, solitary on stems originating at the bases of the leaves. 

There are records in the nineteenth century from the area covered by this key, so it is probably native to the area.

Description and photo (as Gossypium sturtianum) in G.M. Cunningham, WE Mulham, PL Milthorpe and J H Leigh (1981 and later printings) Plants of Western New South Wales page 479

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Gossypium~sturtianum