DICOTYLEDONS

CALLITRICHACEAE - Starwort Family

A family of annual or perennial herbs, often aquatic, found throughout temperate regions of the world. It has small, simple leaves usually in opposite pairs or rosettes. The flowers are small and reduced. Represented in Western Australia by two naturalised species. Callitriche stagnalis (common starwort) is a delicate, amphibious species with small spoon-shaped to circular leaves with three to seven veins, in opposite pairs and whorls. Stems up to 1m long in water but 0.1-0.3m high when creeping over mud. Minute flowers appear in winter and spring. Widespread in disturbed freshwater wetlands and artificial water bodies throughout the south-west. Native from the Mediterranean region to Asia and New Caledonia. Recently, C. hamulata, which has linear leaves, has been collected from claypans on the Swan Coastal Plain. Native to Europe and North America.

Callitriche stagnalis, GK

CAMPANULACEAE - Bellflower Family

A family of about 1000 species, mostly herbs from temperate regions, often with milky latex. In Western Australia there are eight native species and one naturalised.Wahlenbergia capensis (cape bluebell) is a slender, erect annual up to 50cm tall. The stems and leaves are shortly-hairy and the leaves have wavy, toothed margins. Each flowering stem is terminated by a single cup-shaped flower up to 2cm across, bluish-green with a dark blue centre, appearing in spring. Widespread on roadsides, in woodlands and heaths on sandy soils and occasionally in gardens, from Geraldton to Ravensthorpe. Native to the Cape Province, South Africa.

Wahlenbergia capensis , RR

CANNABACEAE - Hop Family

This family is small (three species) but economically important and comes originally from Asia and North America. It includes Cannabis sativa (hemp, marijuana), grown for fibre and as a drug and Humulus lupulus (hops), grown to flavour beer. Both may occasionally be encountered (sometimes in unexpected places!) but are probably not truly naturalised.

CAPPARACEAE - Caper Family

A worldwide family of some 800 species of herbs, shrubs and trees, mostly in warmer regions. In Western Australia there are 15 native species and one naturalised. Cleome gynandra is an erect, sticky herb to 1.3m with trefoil leaves and spikes of four-petalled white flowers up to 2cm across. A widespread tropical weed, originally from south-east Asia, that has been recorded on Middle Island, in Ashmore Reef and on Koolan Island. There are six native species of Cleome in Western Australia; consult a specialist text for exact identification.

Cleome gynandra, GK

CAPRIFOLIACEAE - Honeysuckle Family

A family of some 390 shrubs or woody climbers, mainly from the Northern Hemisphere. Two species naturalised in Western Australia. The honeysuckles, Lonicera, are attractive, sweet-smelling climbers, that may persist at the site of old settlements, or the fleshy berries may be transported by birds into disturbed creeklines in the wetter south-west. Many different cultivars are planted, and L. japonica (Japanese honeysuckle) and L. x americana have both been recorded as naturalised.

Lonicera japonica, PH

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