Barleria dolomiticola M.Balkwill & K.Balkwill

Erect to decumbent herbs, forming rounded or somewhat sprawling bushes with many branched stems from a woody rootstock. Stems up to 250 mm long, slender, ligneous at base; young stems pubescent, hairs eglandular and adpressed, scattered but becoming dense at nodes, especially flowering nodes; older stems glabrous or glabrescent, woody; bark pale grey to brownish-grey, smooth or with very shallow longitudinal ridges. Leaves (10-)12-19(-23) x (4-)5-11.-13) mm, opposite, very shortly petiolate; lamina ovate or elliptic, base very broadly cuneate to truncate; margins entire; apex rounded or obtuse or more commonly acute with a small innocuous apiculus, this often slightly recurved; surfaces glabrous or glabrescent, but then with only a few scattered eglandular trichomes, usually restricted to midrib on lower surface; dull grey-green or blue-green above and below, sometimes tinged reddish or purplish along margins and at apex (dried leaves yellowish or olive green to dark blue-black); venation eucamptodromous, 2-3 pairs of secondary veins, not clearly visible except in dried specimens; petiole 0.5-2.5 mm long, green, sometimes flushed reddish or purplish, glabrescent to fairly densely pubescent, hairs eglandular. Bracteoles 2 subtending each flower, equal, (6-)7-9(-11) x 1-2.5 mm, linear to narrowly elliptic, or narrowly obovate; shortly stalked, base gradually tapered, margins entire, apex acute to fine-pointed, often slightly recurved (not stiff or spinous); surfaces glabrous (most commonly) to sparsely pubescent; if hairs present then usually associated with margins. Calyx of 4 dissimilar lobes, 2 outer and 2 inner; outer lobes sub-similar, adaxial lobe (11-)14-17(-18) x (2.5-)2.7-3.4(-4) mm, ovate to narrowly triangular, apex long-tapering or acute, margins entire, bases truncate, surfaces glabrescent (a few scattered hairs present on veins) to densely glandular-pubescent (glands stalked, unevenly distributed, associated with veins and margins), 5 or more main veins from the base, veins looping before the margins; abaxial lobe (11-)13-16(-18) x (2-)2.4-3(-3.5) mm, apex occasionally unevenly 2-toothed, otherwise the same as adaxial outer lobe; inner calyx lobes similar, (11-)12-14(-15) x 1-2.2 mm, very narrowly triangular, fine-pointed, one main vein from the base; outer surfaces densely pubescent, hairs long, fine and straight. Flowers solitary, axillary, unequally 5-lobed and 2-lipped, one lobe in lower lip, 4 in upper lip; corolla (30-)33-49(-50) mm long from base of tube to tip of upper lip; white or off-white to pale lilac or mauve with darker purple markings down centre of each lobe and at sinuses of corolla lobes; narrowly tubular below, inflating very gradually beyond point of insertion of stamens, tube slightly flattened dorsi-ventrally, lower lobe fused to corolla for shorter distance than upper lobes; upper corolla lobes (15-)17-21(-22) x (4.5-)5.2-6.8(-7) mm, narrowly elliptic, base gradually tapered, apex rounded; lower corolla lobe (15-)16-21(-23) x (5-)5.5-6.8(-7) mm, elliptic to obovate, base tapered, apex rounded to retuse or emarginate. Androecium comprising 2 fertile stamens and three highly reduced staminodes; stamens epipetalous, adnate to corolla approximately 4.5 mm above base of corolla tube, exserted on lower side of the flower when mature; filaments white or lilac, 23-35 mm long, glabrous except at base where glandular; bases of filaments twisted and crossing over; anthers purple, 2-4 mm long, bithecous, thecae parallel, muticous; staminodes highly reduced, 1-2 mm long, with no anther rudiments, glandular, adnate to corolla tube slightly above point of insertion of stamens. Disc shallowly cupular. Ovary 2 x 1.5 mm, ovoid, very densely pubescent, 2-locular; ovules 2; style terete, glabrous; stigma 1 lobe filiform, 1 lobe highly reduced. Fruit a capsule, 14-16 x 4-8 mm, base turgid, apex with a long woody beak, densely pubescent, dehiscing explosively, placental bases inelastic. Seeds 2.4-7 x 3.5-5 mm, lens-shaped flattened on one side, convex on other; surfaces white, covered in hygroscopic hairs.