Pachycladon stellatum

Detailed description

Polycarpic perennial rosette-forming herb, up to 340 mm tall; rootstock stout, up to 16 mm diameter. Rosette, densely leafy, foliage coriaceous, dull, grey-green, often red-purple on petiole and lower surface. Leaves 20–80 × 5–19 mm, narrow-lanceolate, lanceolate, or oblanceolate, shallowly serrate with 4–8 pairs of teeth; apex acute to subacute; base attenuate. Hairs on leaves and inflorescence bifurcating, dendritic, sometimes simple, white or sordid, harsh or scabrid. Inflorescence 150-350 mm, compound, with terminal and lateral racemes, lateral racemes alternate and occasionally with secondary racemes. Cauline leaves subtending lateral racemes and rarely lowermost flowers, 3.5–55 × 1–5 mm, similar to rosette leaves, becoming smaller and linear up stem, moderately to densely hairy; base cuneate to subauriculate . Racemes 60-200 mm long at fruiting, 10-40-flowered; sparsely to densely covered in hairs. Pedicels 4.0-5.5 mm long at flowering, 7–15 mm long at fruiting, usually glabrous, suberect to erecto-patent. Sepals 3.5–4.5 × 1.3–2.1 mm, ascending, green, oblong, with few hairs, often flushed pink in bud; margin broad, membranous, white; apex obtuse to subacute. Petals 6–7 × 3–4 mm, white; claw 2.0–3.5 mm long; limb broad elliptic to obovate, or short oblanceolate, 3.0–3.5 mm long; apex rounded; base attenuate to cuneate . Stamen filaments 2.5–4.9 mm long; anthers 0.9–1.1 × 0.5–0.6 mm, white. Nectary almost surrounding the bases of the lateral stamens. Ovary 2.6–4.1 × 0.5–0.8 mm, green, glabrous. Style 0.3–0.7 mm long . Stigma 0.4–0.5 mm wide. Siliques 30–60 × 1.3–2.3 mm, linear, valves weakly keeled at base, 1-veined, at maturity yellow-brown and often flushed red-brown . Septum intact, with or without a midvein. Funicle 0.3–0.5 mm long. Seeds 30–50 per locule, 1.1–1.4 × 0.5–0.7 × 0.3–0.4 mm, oblong to narrowly ellipsoid, flattened, brown or red-brown; surface regular to irregular, reticulate; wing usually apical but sometimes decurrent on apical half of seed, 0.2–1.0 mm long at seed apex.