Rounded leaf

Perennial herb to half a metre with rounded, sharply lobed leaves throughout the coastal and tableland regions of southern Queensland and NSW. Grows in sclerophyll woodland and forest. Prostrate branches root as they spread. Leaves to around 4.5 cm, obviously lobed (crenate), rounded to roughly triangular, hairy or smooth. Goodenia (good-EEN-ee-a) after Rev. Samuel Goodenough 1743-1827, a prudish treasurer of the Linnean Society who criticised Linnaeus for adopting a sexual basis for classifying plants. Rotundifolia means rounded leaves. Flower stalks to 25 mm long, corolla to 16 mm long, yellow with brownish markings, with few hairs inside. Fruit subglobose, to 7 mm long, pale seeds oblong to 2.5 mm. Attractive sprawling groundcover with pretty yellow flowers through the warmer months. Does best in well-drained soils in light shade. Food plant for caterpillars of Meadow Argus Junonia villida. Another Goodenia G. heterophylla is a small NSW species with narrow hairy leaves.

Foliage. Photo: Robert Whyte

Seed collecting and propagation

Solitary bright yellow flowers in September to May. Fruit a small spherical capsule 4 to 4 mm long. Seeds pale brown. Can be propagated by seed or division of plants.

Flower. Photo: Robert Whyte

References and resources

NSW Flora online Key to the Goodenias