''Goodenia pumilio'' is a species of flowering plant in the family

Goodeniaceae Goodeniaceae is a family (biology), family of flowering plants in the Order (biology), order Asterales. It contains about 404 species in twelve genera. The family is distributed mostly in Australia, except for the genus ''Scaevola (plant), Scaevo ...

and is native to northern Australia and New Guinea. It is a prostrate,

stolon In biology, stolons (from Latin '' stolō'', genitive ''stolōnis'' – "branch"), also known as runners, are horizontal connections between organisms. They may be part of the organism, or of its skeleton; typically, animal stolons are external s ...

-forming

herb In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...

with egg-shaped to lance-shaped leaves in rosettes, and

raceme A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...

s of small, dark reddish-purple flowers.

Description

''Goodenia pumilio'' is a prostrate, stolon-forming herb with stems up to with scattered, star-shaped hairs. The leaves are egg-shaped to lance-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, arranged in rosettes at the base of the plant and on the stolons, long and wide. The flowers are arranged in racemes up to long, sometimes singly in leaf axils, with leaf-like

bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...

s long. Each flower is on a

pedicel Pedicle or pedicel may refer to: Human anatomy *Pedicle of vertebral arch, the segment between the transverse process and the vertebral body, and is often used as a radiographic marker and entry point in vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty procedures ...

long with lance-shaped

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

s up to long. The petals are dark reddish purple, long, the lower lobes of the corolla long and lacking wings. Flowering mainly occurs from April to July and the fruit is an oval capsule about long.

Taxonomy and naming

''Goodenia pumilio'' was first formally described in 1810 by Robert Brown in his ''

Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen ''Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen'' (Prodromus of the Flora of New Holland and Van Diemen's Land) is a flora of Australia written by botanist Robert Brown and published in 1810. Often referred to as ''Prodromus Flora Novae ...

''. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

(''pumilio'') means "dwarf".

Distribution and habitat

This goodenia grows in marshes and swamps in the

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia * Kimberley (Western Australia) ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Kimberley * Kimberley Warm Springs, Tasmania * Kimberley, Tasmania a small town * County of Kimberley, a ...

region of Western Australia, northern parts of the Northern Territory and Queensland and in New Guinea.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q51050660 pumilio Eudicots of Western Australia Flora of Queensland Flora of the Northern Territory Flora of New Guinea Plants described in 1810 Taxa named by Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773)