Moluccella laevis
L. Molucca BalmHerb to 70 cm high. Leaves orbicular to ovate, 2–4 cm long and wide, 5-veined from base, apex obtuse, margin crenate to shallowly lobed. Bracts subtending cymes spine-like, c. 1 cm long. Calyx 20–30 mm long, and as wide or wider at apex, c. 15-veined near base, becoming net-veined toward apex, with 5 main veins each ending in a mucro; corolla c. 10–20 mm long, white to pink with mauve markings, abaxial lobe as long as or longer than tube, adaxial lobe much shorter, with a few simple hairs on the hood; anthers and stigma not or barely exserted from hood of adaxial lobe. Mericarps 3–3.5 mm long. Flowers Feb.–Apr.
Wim, VVP, GipP. Also naturalised WA, SA, NSW. Native to north-eastern Mediterranean areas. Apparently weakly naturalised in Victoria, represented at MEL only by a pre-1900 specimen labelled 'Wimmera' and a 1988 specimen from Horsham area; occasionally cultivated for the spectacular fruiting calyces and perhaps sometimes persisting around gardens.
Conn, B.J. (1999). Lamiaceae. In: Walsh, N.G.; Entwisle, T.J., Flora of Victoria Vol. 4, Cornaceae to Asteraceae, pp. 418–459. Inkata Press, Melbourne.
Spinning
