Cynoglossum australe
Species of flowering plant
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cynoglossum australe commonly known as the Australian hound's tongue,[2] is a flowering plant in the family Boraginaceae. It is a perennial herb with blue, pink or whitish flowers found in most states of Australia.
| Australian hound's tongue | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Boraginales |
| Family: | Boraginaceae |
| Genus: | Cynoglossum |
| Species: | C. australe |
| Binomial name | |
| Cynoglossum australe | |
Description
Cynoglossum australe is an upright herb 30–75 cm (12–30 in) high, occasionally taller, with stems covered in stiff, backward or downward spreading hairs. Lower leaves are lance to spoon-shaped, flat, 6–20 cm (2.4–7.9 in) long, 10–35 mm (0.39–1.38 in) wide on a petiole 2–10 cm (0.79–3.94 in) long, becoming sessile, wedge-shaped at the base, a pointed apex and decreasing in size near the flowers. The corolla is blue, sometimes pink or whitish, 3–6 mm (0.12–0.24 in) long, pedicel 2–5 mm (0.079–0.197 in) long, sepals elliptic-shaped to almost triangular, rounded or blunt and enlarging as the fruit ages. Flowering occurs mostly in spring and summer and the fruit is a flattened, oval to globe-shaped schizocarp, light brown to yellowish-brown, 2.5–3.5 mm (0.098–0.138 in) long and covered in spines of varying length on the lower surface.[2][3][4]
Taxonomy and naming
Cynoglossum australe was first formally described in 1810 by Robert Brown and the description was published in Prodromus florae Novae Hollandiae.[5][6] The specific epithet (australe) means "Australian".[7]