Goodenia ovata
Hop Goodenia
Hop Goodenia
Wikipedia links: Angiosperms > Eudicots > Asterids > Asterales > Goodeniaceae > Goodenia ovata
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Overview:
Goodenia ovata, commonly called the hop goodenia, is a species of flowering plant and is endemic to south-eastern Australia
It is a shrub with sticky, often varnished foliage, toothed egg-shaped to elliptic leaves and racemes or thyrses of yellow flowers
Common name: Hop Goodenia
Conservation status: ...
Etymology:
The genus name Goodenia honours Bishop of Carlisle Samuel Goodenough, a member of the Linnean Society of London at the time
The species' name ovata refers to the egg-shaped or oval leaves
Flowers:
Each flower is borne on a pedicel up to 8 mm long, the sepals linear to lance-shaped and 3–11 mm long
The petals are yellow, 10–19 mm long, the lower lobes 5–7 mm long with wings up to 2.5 mm wide
Flowering occurs throughout the year with a peak from October to March
Fruit:
A cylindrical capsule 8–12 mm long
Leaves:
The leaves are egg-shaped to elliptic, 30–80 mm long and 10–40 mm wide with toothed edges, on a petiole up to 30 mm long
The flowers are arranged in racemes or thyrses about 350 mm long
These are on a peduncle 10–40 mm long, with leaf-like bracts and linear bracteoles 2–6 mm long
Stem & branches:
Roots:
Habit:
An erect, ascending to prostrate shrub that typically grows to a height of 2 m and has sticky, often varnished foliage
Habitat:
Forest, woodland and scrub in higher rainfall areas, and especially in disturbed areas
It is found near the coast as well as in drier inland areas
It grows on medium-nutrient clay soils derived from shale, as well as siltstone and sandstone, in areas of good drainage in a partly-shaded location in moist eucalypt forests
In in moist eucalypt forests it grows alongside Themeda australis and under such trees as turpentine (Syncarpia glomulifera) or blackbutt (Eucalyptus pilularis), or in open forest under swamp oak (Casuarina glauca), forest red gum (Eucalyptus tereticornis), thin-leaved stringybark (E. eugenioides), or woollybutt (E. longifolia)
Distribution:
South-eastern South Australia, most of Victoria apart from the northern mallee and alpine areas and most of New South Wales
It is also widespread in Tasmania and south-eastern Queensland
Additional notes:
Taxonomy
Goodenia ovata was first formally described in 1794 by James Edward Smith in Transactions of the Linnean Society of London from specimens "presented to the Society by Mr. Hoy" in December 1792
Ecology
The flowers of G. ovata are pollinated by insects, including native bees, honeybees, and hoverflies
The plant is killed by bushfire and regenerates from seed afterwards
Use in horticulture
In cultivation, the species prefers a situation in part shade and with some moisture
It copes with a range of soil types and tolerates moderate frost
Fast-growing, it can be used as a "filler" plant in the garden
It is readily propagated by cuttings
Sources of information: