Clandestine Triggerplant
Introducing Clandestine Triggerplant, an undescribed species of Stylidium from the eastern Kimberley and adjacent Northern Territory. This soon-to-be-named annual herb has broad basal leaves arranged in a spreading rosette, glandular-hairy inflorescences, and an abundance of pink or magenta flowers with a distinctive golden yellow throat. Peak flowering is in July, with the flowers opening mid-morning and shutting by mid-afternoon. It grows in sandy soils in open savannah woodland on flood plains, in drainage lines, and near watercourses and billabongs.
Research on Australia’s extraordinary Triggerplant flora continues apace — Clandestine Triggerplant is one of a number of novelties from northern Australia that will be named in Nuytsia this year.
Image: Juliet Wege