Common name: Purple Fan-flower, Snake Flower
Scaevola ramosissima (Sm.) K.Krause APNI* Synonyms: Scaevola hispida Cav. APNI*
Description: Decumbent to ascending herb to 40 cm high, hispid with simple and glandular hairs.
Leaves linear to oblanceolate, 2–10 cm long, 2–10 mm wide, margins entire or toothed; sessile.
Flowers in leafy thryses or racemes to 30 cm long; stalks to 10 cm long; bracts triangular, to 4 mm long; bracteoles linear, to 25 mm long, entire, exceeding ovary and usually sepals. Sepals free, linear, to 5 mm long. Corolla 15–25 mm long, pale violet to purple, hispid outside with spreading hairs, usually bearded in throat with some of the hairs often swollen at tip; wings 1–3 mm wide. Anthers hairy at apex. Indusium with short white bristles on upper surface.
Fruit ellipsoid, c. 5 mm long, hairy, striate-wrinkled.
Flowering: chiefly August–March
Distribution and occurrence: Grows in heath and sclerophyll forest usually on sandy soils; chiefly in coastal districts, west to the Blue Mtns and Budawang Ra.
NSW subdivisions: NC, CC, SC, NT, CT, ST
Other Australian states: Qld Vic.
Text by R. C. Carolin
Taxon concept: Flora of NSW 3 (1992)
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data
***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.
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