Flower. Photo: Richard Hartland, Reedy Lake, near Geelong, Vic

Leaves. Photo: Richard Hartland, Reedy Lake, near Geelong, Vic

Plant. Australian Plant Image Index, photo: E Canning, near Booligal, NSW

Plants. Australian Plant Image Index, photo: E Canning, near Booligal, NSW

Common Name

River Bluebell

Family

Campanulaceae

Notes

Perennial forb to 80cm tall. Leaves alternating up the stems, 0.4-6cm long, 0.5-5mm wide, linear or the lowermost flat, hairless or sparsely hairy, margins flat or sometimes wavy, entire or sometimes with a few small teeth.  Flowers mauve to blue, tubular, with 5 lobes, in open groups at the tops of the stems.

Differs from Wahlenbergia communis, Wahlenbergia gracilenta, Wahlenbergia gracilis, Wahlenbergia graniticola, Wahlenbergia littoricola, Wahlenbergia luteola, Wahlenbergia queenslandica, and Wahlenbergia tumidifructa in that the free lobes of the flower are more than four times as long as the flower tube.

Description and photo of flowers in G.M. Cunningham, WE Mulham, PL Milthorpe and J H Leigh (1981 and later printings) Plants of Western New South Wales page 627

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

Line drawings of flowers and fruiting bodies of seven species of Wahlenbergia in this key (but not Wahlenbergia graniticola, Wahlenbergia luteola, or Wahlenbergia stricta ssp. alterna) in Flora of South Australia 4th edition, Handbooks Committee on behalf of the South Australian Government (1986), Volume 3, page 1382