Plectranthus diversus

Location & distribution maps

Common name:         Native Coleus 

Conservation status: ...

Etymology:   

Flowers

• Flowers borne in elongated fasciculate cymes or panicles

• Pedicels about 5 mm long

• Flowers about 10 mm long, very zygomorphic

• Calyx clothed in glandular and non-glandular hairs, and orange glands

• Corolla 5-lobed, the lower lobe cup-shaped with white markings and orange glands

• Anther filaments about 6 mm long

• Style about 6 mm long, stigma bilobed

Fruit:                            

• Fruits (nutlets, up to 4) enclosed in the persistent calyx

• Seeds about 1 mm long

• Embryo about 1 mm long, cotyledons folded once and also folded back and +/- surrounding the radicle

Leaves:         

• Leaf blades about 2.5-6 x 3-5.5 cm, upper and lower surfaces clothed in short glandular and longer non-glandular hairs, margin with 10-15 rounded teeth on each side, petioles about 1.2-2.5 cm long

• Midrib and veins depressed on the upper surface of the leaf blade

• Twigs square in cross section

• Leaves emit a strong odour when crushed, the odour resembling that of Eucalyptus or Tea Tree (Melaleuca spp.) Oil

Stem & branches: 

Roots:         

Habit:        

• Usually flowers and fruits as a shrub about 1-2 m tall

Habitat:   

• Altitudinal range not known in any detail but collected at 500 m

• Grows as an understory plant in monsoon forest or vine thickets on granite

Distribution:                  

• Endemic to Queensland, occurs in NEQ

• Known only from collections from the Font Hills area

Additional notes:   

• Seedlings

  • Cotyledons about 7 x 10 mm, minutely hairy, petioles about 5-6 mm long

  • First pair of leaves about 19-16 mm, petioles about 14 mm long, margin crenate or almost smooth

  • At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blade clothed in hairs on both the upper and lower surfaces, small spherical, cream or orange glands visible with a lens

  • Margin with 5 or 6 large rounded teeth on each side

  • Stem hairy and square in transverse section

  • Seed germination time 15 days

• Uses

  • Wildlife uses: Native bees and butterflies are attracted to the flowers

  • Human uses: Traditional Custodians used it as an insect deterrent when rubbed on the skin and as an antiseptic poultice applied to wounds

Sources of information:

• https://www.mackayregionalbotanicgardens.com.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/251642/BG_Self_Guided_Walks_2_-_Regional_Forests_-_Single_Pages_WEB.pdf (2024)

• https://apps.lucidcentral.org/rainforest/text/entities/coleus_diversus.htm (2024)