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

Flowering plant. Photo: Don Wood, Scotia Sanctuary, NSW

Common Name

Bluerod; Bluetop; Blue-flower; Morgan Flower; Free-flowering Morgania

Family

Plantaginaceae

Notes

Faintly scented forb to 90cm tall.  Leaves opposite each other or in whorls of 3-4, 1-5cm long, 2-8mm wide, flat, hairless, the edges toothed.  Flowers blue purple or violet, tubular, 2-lipped with five lobes, in clusters of 1-3 at the bases of each bract of paired leaf-like bracts, forming spike -like leafy inflorescences at the tops of the stems.  Family Scrophulariaceae in NSW and SA.

Description and photo (as Morgania floribunda) in G.M. Cunningham, WE Mulham, PL Milthorpe and J H Leigh (1981 and later printings) Plants of Western New South Wales page 599

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