A blue-green, hairless perennial plant to 200 mm tall with pale yellow flowers and slender leaves forming a rosette at the base and 1-3 leaves (or sets of leaves) on each stem.
Description:
Cotyledons:
Two. Club shaped. Tip pointed. Sides convex. Base tapered. Surface hairless. Very short petiole.
First leaves:
Narrow lance shaped. Tip pointed. Hairless.
Leaves:
The early rosette leaves may have low lying hairs and flat or rounded tips. These leaves fall off as the rosette grows.
Stipules - None.
Petiole - Short and merging.
Blade - Blue-green, lance shaped, waxy bloom, 30-100 mm long by 4-12 mm wide, edges may be toothed, acute tip. Hairless.
Stem leaves - Narrower, blue-green, waxy bloom, 20-80 mm long by 2-5 mm wide, smooth edges, no teeth. Hairless. Floral leaves are ones shorter than or equal to the length of the flower stalk. Usually only 1 to 3 leaves (or 1 to 3 groups of leaves) on each stem.
Stems:
Erect or bending upwards, blue-green, 100-200 mm tall. Hairless.
Flower head:
Single flowers, on smooth, hairless stalks, 20-80 mm long in leaf axils.
Flowers:
Pale yellow, tubular.
Bracts - None.
Ovary - Style 6-9 mm long, hairy. Cup enclosing the stigma (indusium) is hairy on the back and at the tip.
Sepals - Lance shaped. Hairy, 5 mm long.
Petals - 5 lobed, yellow, tubular, 15-20 mm long. Low lying silver hairs on the outside. Minute hairs in the tube. Lobes broadly winged. Upper 2 lobes have ear-like appendages at the base.
Stamens -
Anthers - with a short sharp flexible point.
Fruit:
Globular capsule, 5-7 mm diameter with a seam (dissepiment) that nearly reaches the middle. Several seeds per capsule.
Seeds:
Brown, egg shaped, flat, 3-3.5 mm long, including the encircling white wing. Wing is 0.5 mm wide. Surface shiny and hairless.
Roots:
Spreading shallow laterals that give rise to new rosettes.
Key Characters:
Almost hairless. Stiff, fairly straight stems. Initial leaves form a rosette. Few stem leaves. 15-25 mm long, hairy corolla. Silky style. Globular capsule. 3-3.5 mm long, winged brown seed.
Biology:
Life cycle:
Perennial. Flowers late winter - summer.
Physiology:
Reproduction:
By seed and creeping lateral roots.
Flowering times:
Mainly summer in SA.
Spring to summer in Victoria.
Mainly late winter and spring in western NSW.
Seed Biology and Germination:
Vegetative Propagules:
Roots.
Hybrids:
Allelopathy:
Population Dynamics and Dispersal:
Spreads by lateral roots, and rarely produces seedlings.
Origin and History:
Australia.
Distribution:
NSW, QLD, SA, VIC.
Habitats:
Climate:
Temperate.
Soil:
Prefers clay or alluvial soils, especially around swamps.
Also on brown gibber soils and sandy alluvium on ephemeral creeks.
Plant Associations:
Black Box, River Red Gum, Bimble Box, Coolibah communities.
Significance:
Beneficial:
Palatable useful forage but a fairly poor producer.
Detrimental:
Weed of crops, watercourses and flood plains.
Toxicity:
Not recorded as toxic.
Legislation:
None.
Management and Control:
Thresholds:
Eradication strategies:
Herbicide resistance:
Biological Control:
Related plants:
Silky Goodenia (G. fascicularis)
Trailing Goodenia (G. lanata)
Hop Goodenia (G. ovata)
Cutleaf Goodenia (G. pinnatifida)
Small Flowered Goodenia (G. pusilliflora)
G. glabra
Plants of similar appearance:
References:
Black, J.M. (1965). Flora of South Australia. (Government Printer, Adelaide, South Australia). P824.
Cunningham, G.M., Mulham, W.E., Milthorpe, P.L. and Leigh, J.H. (1992). Plants of Western New South Wales. (Inkata Press, Melbourne). P632. Photo.
Lamp, C. and Collet, F. (1990). A Field Guide to Weeds in Australia. (Inkata Press, Melbourne).
Lazarides, M. and Hince, B. (1993). CSIRO handbook of economic plants of Australia. (CSIRO, Melbourne). #600.3.