Gomphocarpus physocarpus E.Mey.

Shrubby perennial herb to 2.5 m tall arising from a tap root; stems generally single, branching above, woody below, upper parts pubescent with spreading white hairs. Leaves generally paired, but occasionally subopposite or crowded into pseudowhorls; petiole 3-12 mm long; lamina 4-9(-12) x 0.5-1.5(-2) cm, narrowly oblong to lanceolate, apex acute, base cuneate, margins smooth, subglabrous or sparsely pubescent with soft white hairs, particularly on the midrib and margins. Inflorescences extra-axillary with 5-12 flowers in a nodding umbel, peduncles 1.5-3.5 cm long, ascending, densely spreading-pubescent to tomentose; bracts deciduous; pedicels (1-)1.5-2(-3) cm long, densely pubescent. Sepals 3-4 x 1 mm, narrowly triangular-attenuate, pubescent. Corolla strongly reflexed, white, glabrous outside, minutely papillate and with long white hairs along the right margin within; lobes 5-8 x 3-4.5 mm, ovate, subacute. Corona lobes attached 1.5-2 mm above base of staminal column, laterally compressed, complicate, 2-3 x 1.5-2(-2.5) mm, as tall as the column, quadrate, with a short erect to slightly recurved tooth c.0.5 mm long on the proximal upper margin, cavity of the lobe lacking any form of tooth, white, frequently tinged with pink or purple. Anther wings 1.8-2 mm long, margins very slightly sinuous. Corpusculum 0.4 x 0.15 mm, ovoid-subcylindrical with lateral translucent flanges, black; translator arms c.0.3 mm, flattened and geniculate; pollinia c.1.6 x 0.4 mm, flattened, oblanceolate in outline. Stigma head flat. Fruiting pedicel contorted; follicle to 4-7 cm in diameter, globose or subglobose, slightly depressed on one side, not beaked but occasionally somewhat angled apically, strongly inflated, pubescent, densely covered with filiform processes to c.1 cm long. Seeds c.4.5 x 2 mm, ovate with one convex and one concave face, verrucose; coma c.3 cm long.

In upland seasonal swamp grassland.