Wahlenbergia cernua

The flower of Wahlenbergia cernua usually grows solitary, borne on a long stalk at a stem tip. The blue to nearly white flower is five-pointed, star-like with a shallow central bowl. It has a rather open bell-shape, hairy in the base, but not on the ovary.

The petals are joined in the base of the cup, ovately lobed with tapering, acute tips that curve slightly outwards and fold in from the margins near the petal tips. There is no dark patch at the base of the corolla.

In picture the stigma on a straight, fleshy style has three large, rounded lobes, bulging and blue. The stamens that tend to wither when the flower opens have more or less vanished.

Flowering commences at the end of winter, continuing to mid-autumn (Manning, 2007; iSpot).