Erect herb to c. 1 m tall; stems striate or ribbed, with sparse appressed hairs. Leaves basal and cauline; basal leaves oblanceolate-spathulate, to 12 cm long and 3 cm wide, margins entire or toothed, long-petiolate; cauline leaves smaller, deeply pinnatifid, sessile. Heads terminal, subglobose in flower, ovoid in fruit, 1–3 cm long, c. 1 cm diam.; involucral bracts linear, 5–20 mm long, leafy; receptacle bracts linear-lanceolate, not pungent. Corolla 8–22 mm long, white to dark purplish, lobes 1–5 mm long. Cypselas narrow-ellipsoid, 8-ribbed in lower part, enclosed in epicalyx. Flowers mainly spring and summer (sporadically throughout the year).
LoM, MuM, Wim, GleP, Brid, VVP, VRiv, GipP, OtP, WaP, Gold, CVU, DunT, HSF. Also naturalised in WA, SA, NSW, ACT, Tas. Native to the Mediterranean region. A commonly grown ornamental that has become naturalised in disturbed sites mostly in western Victoria.
Source:
Jeanes, J.A. (1999). Dipsacaceae. In: Walsh, N.G.; Entwisle, T.J., Flora of Victoria Vol. 4, Cornaceae to Asteraceae, pp. 650–651. Inkata Press, Melbourne.
