Goodenia paniculata


Goodenia paniculata, commonly known as branched goodenia, is a species of plant in the family Goodeniaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is a short-lived herb with egg-shaped to lance-shaped leaves with toothed edges and racemes of yellow flowers.

Description

Goodenia paniculata is a short-lived herb that typically grows to a height of with many adventitious roots. The leaves are mostly at the base of the plant, egg-shaped to lance-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, long and wide, with toothed edges. The flowers are arranged in racemes or thyrses up to long on a peduncle long with linear to narrow elliptic bracts long and bracteoles long. Each flower is on a pedicel long with triangular to lance-shaped sepals long. The corolla is long, the lower lobes long with wings about wide. Flowering mainly occurs from October to April and the fruit is a spherical to oval capsule long.

Taxonomy

The name Goodenia paniculata first appeared in scientific literature in the Transactions of the Linnean Society of London in 1794, published by the English botanist, James Edward Smith from specimens collected by David Burton in Port Jackson.
Karel Domin described Goodenia rosulata from Queensland in 1929, but this name is now regarded as a synonym of G. paniculata by the Australian Plant Census.
The specific epithet paniculata refers to flower panicles. However, the flowers form on racemes not panicles.

Distribution and habitat

Branched goodenia grows in freshwater wetland or swampy habitat on clay, silty or sandy soils, often on the coast, and it has been known to grow in soils with pH as low as 2.5. It is found from Queensland through eastern New South Wales to south-eastern Victoria to as far west as Rosedale. In New South Wales in mainly occurs in coastal areas but also as far west as the Blue Mountains and Nerriga. The plant community it grows in is heath or woodland, dominated by such trees as thin-leaved stringybark, broad-leaved red ironbark, forest red gum, woollybutt and white feather honeymyrtle, and shrubs such as prickly-leaved paperbark, Deane's paperbark, and tantoon.