Common Name

A Bluebell

Family

Campanulaceae

Notes

Perennial forb to 80cm tall. Leaves alternating up the stems or sometimes the lowermost leaves opposite each other, 0.4-6cm long, 1-4mm wide, linear, or the lowermost leaves flat, lower leaves hairy, upper leaves hairless, margins flat or wavy, entire or toothed. Flowers tubular, with 5 blue lobes, in open groups at the tops of the stems.

Differs from Wahlenbergia communis, Wahlenbergia queenslandica, Wahlenbergia fluminalis, Wahlenbergia gracilis, Wahlenbergia stricta ssp. alterna,and Wahlenbergia tumidifructa in that the flower lobes are about 3 times as long as the flower tube, from Wahlenbergia gracilenta in that the flower lobes are 5-9mm long, from Wahlenbergia graniticola in that the lower leaves are narrow (1-4mm wide), and from Wahlenbergia luteola in that the fruiting bodies are less than 3 times as long as broad.

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

Line drawings of flowers and fruiting bodies of seven species of Wahlenbergia (Wahlenbergia littoricola as Wahlenbergia litticola) 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

Note that the flower(s) in John Tann's photo and Don Wood's south coast photo have all lost their stigmas.