Polymeria pusilla R. Br.

Code

PMOPU

Growth form

Creeper

Biological cycle

Vivacious

Habitat

Terrestrial

Global description

Polymeria pusilla is a small vivacious plant spread on the ground. The stems are glabrous or sparsely hairy, rooting at the nodes. The leaves are simple alternate long petiolate. The blade is more or less orbicular or quadrangular to reniform but generally longer than broad, emarginate at the top and mucronate and cordate at the base. The margin is whole to slightly sinuate. The faces are slightly hairy. At night the two halves of the limb close one against the other to move away at the first glow of the morning. The flowers are subsessile and solitary in the axils of the leaves. The funnel-shaped corolla is pale pink with a yellow heart. They measure 1 cm in diameter. The fruit is an orbicular capsule with two compartments containing each two pubescent seeds.

Polymeria pusilla is a vivacious species. It multiplies by cuttings and by seeds.

New Caledonia: Polymeria pusilla grows in clay soils in highly degraded sclerophyllous environments. It is found in grasslands and degraded dry forests, mainly along the coast.

Worldwide distribution

Polymeria pusilla is native to Australia, New Caledonia and Timor.

Herbarium pictures ReCOLNAT: https://explore.recolnat.org/search/botanique/simplequery=Polymeria%2520pusilla