Stylidium despectum
R.Br. Small TriggerplantErect ephemeral, to 12 cm high, simple or branched near base. Leaves few, scattered or sometimes gathered near the base but never rosetted, linear-lanceolate, 1–4 mm long, 1–3 mm wide. Flowers 3–6, shortly pedicellate in an irregular corymb. Calyx linear, c. 5 mm long, glandular-hairy, lobes shorter than the tube, subequal, 2 united almost to the tips; corolla 3–4 mm across, whitish to pale pink, usually darker toward lobe apices, lobes c. equal, paired vertically, c. oblong, blunt, labellum minute, ovate, pointed, throat appendages absent; column c. 1 mm long; anthers dark-rimmed, pollen whitish; stigma cushion-like. Capsule linear, c. 7 mm long; seeds c. 0.3 mm long, ellipsoid, dark brown, smooth to minutely ridged. Flowers Oct.–Dec.
LoM, Wim, GleP, VVP, VRiv, MuF, GipP, OtP, WaP, Gold, CVU, GGr, DunT, NIS, EGL, EGU, WPro, HSF, HNF, Strz, MonT, VAlp. Also WA, SA, NSW, Tas. Except for the far north-west, widespread in Victoria in drying lowland swamps and margins of watercourses. In south-eastern Australia, Stylidium despectum often grows with S. beaugleholei and/or S. perpusillum.
Victorian plants previously assigned to S. inundatum are now referable to S. despectum. Stylidium inundatum is endemic in south-western Western Australia.
Raulings, E.J. (1999). Stylidiaceae. In: Walsh, N.G.; Entwisle, T.J., Flora of Victoria Vol. 4, Cornaceae to Asteraceae, pp. 579–587. Inkata Press, Melbourne.
Spinning
