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The Western Australian Herbarium’s collections management system, WAHerb, and DBCA’s flora taxonomic names application, WACensus, have been set to read-only mode since 1 October 2025. Recent taxonomic changes are not currently being reflected in Florabase, herbarium collections, or the census. Due to the rapidly approaching holiday season and associated agency and facility soft closures, along with the substantial work involved in data mapping, cleaning, and verification, the migration to the new collection management software is not expected to occur before 1 March 2026, when a further update will be provided. Please reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns.

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Mollugo L.

This name is not current. Find out more information on related names.

Reference
Sp.Pl. [Linnaeus] 2:89 (1753)
Name Status
Not Current

Scientific Description

Family Molluginaceae.

Habit and leaf form. Herbs; non-laticiferous and without coloured juice. ‘Normal’ plants. Leaves well developed. Plants with roots; unarmed; autotrophic. Annual, or perennial (rarely). Leaves basal, or cauline (in false whorls or subopposite). To forming cushions. Climbing; scrambling. Mesophytic. Leaves medium-sized; alternate, or opposite (‘subopposite’); spiral (in false whorls); with blades, or bladeless; ‘herbaceous’; subsessile to sessile; not connate; simple; not peltate; epulvinate. Leaf blades neither inverted nor twisted through 90 degrees; dorsiventral (in Australia); entire; flat; linear (to filiform). Mature leaf blades adaxially glabrous; abaxially glabrous. Leaves eligulate; with stipules (but small), or without stipules. Stipules scaly; caducous. Leaf blade margins entire; flat. Leaf anatomy. Hairs absent.

Reproductive type, pollination. Fertile flowers hermaphrodite. Unisexual flowers absent. Plants hermaphrodite. Plants homostylous.

Inflorescence and flower features. Flowers aggregated in ‘inflorescences’. Inflorescence many-flowered. Flowers in cymes. Inflorescences compound. The terminal inflorescence unit cymose. Inflorescences axillary. Flowers pedicellate; bracteate (scarious); ebracteolate; small; regular; not resupinate; 3–5 merous; cyclic; tricyclic. Free hypanthium absent, or present (rarely). Hypogynous disk present, or absent (rarely). Perianth sepaline; 5; 1 -whorled; isomerous. Calyx present; 5; 1 -whorled; polysepalous (in Australia); imbricate; pale green (with a white scarious margin); non-fleshy, or fleshy. Sepals elliptic to obovate. Corolla absent. Androecium present. Fertile stamens present. Androecial members definite in number (in Australia). Androecium 3–5, or 6–10. Androecial members free of one another; 1 -whorled (usually), or 2 -whorled. Stamens 3–5, or 6–10; diplostemonous, or isomerous with the perianth, or reduced in number relative to the adjacent perianth; alternisepalous. Anthers separate from one another; dehiscing via longitudinal slits; tetrasporangiate. Fertile gynoecium present. Gynoecium 3–5 carpelled. The pistil 3–5 celled. Carpels reduced in number relative to the perianth, or isomerous with the perianth. Gynoecium syncarpous; synovarious to synstylovarious; superior. Ovary plurilocular; 3–5 locular. Gynoecium stylate. Styles 3–5; free; simple. Stigmas 3–5; 1 - lobed. Placentation axile. Ovules ‘several’; anatropous to campylotropous.

Fruit and seed features. Fruit 2–3 mm long; not hairy; dehiscent; a capsule. Capsules loculicidal. Dispersal unit the seed. Fruit 1–5 seeded (‘a few’). Seeds non-endospermic. Perisperm present. Seeds small.

Geography, cytology, number of species. Native of Australia, or adventive. Endemic to Australia, or not endemic to Australia. Australian states and territories: Western Australia, South Australia, Northern Territory, Queensland, New South Wales, and Australian Capital Territory. Northern Botanical Province, or Eremaean Botanical Province. A genus of ca 15 species; 2 species in Western Australia; M. cerviana (L.) Ser.; M. molluginis (F.Muell.) Druce; 0 endemic to Western Australia.