Wahlenbergia capillaris, commonly known as tufted bluebell, is a plant in the family Campanulaceae and is native to Australia and New Guinea. It is an erect perennial herb with a few to many stems and grows to a height of 50sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1. The leaves are mostly linear with a few scattered teeth on the sides and the flowers are blue, bell-shaped with five lobes and arranged in cymes. This bluebell is widespread and common, occurring in all Australian mainland states and territories.
Wahlenbergia capillaris is a perennial herb with a thickened taproot and a few to many thin, erect, branched stems that grows to a height of about 50sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1. The leaves are sometimes arranged up to stems and sometimes only near the base of the plant. The leaves are linear, NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long, NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 wide and often have a few teeth arranged along the edge. The flowers are blue and arranged in cymes, each flower with five sepals joined at the base but with narrow triangular lobes NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long. The petals are joined at the base to form a narrow bell-shaped tube NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long with elliptic to egg-shaped lobes NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long and NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 wide. The style is NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 with three lobes on its end. Flowering mainly occurs between October and March and the capsule is oval or cone-shaped, NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long and NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 wide.[1] [2] [3]
The tufted bluebell was first formally described in 1839 by George Loddiges who gave it the name Campanula capillaris and published the description in The Botanical Cabinet.[4] [5] In 1839, George Don changed the name to Wahlenbergia capillaris.[6]
Roger Carolin rejected the name Campanula capillaris because Loddiges' description was inadequate, and in 1965 Carolin gave the species the name Wahlenbergia communis.[7] In 2016, Ian Turner resurrected Loddiges' name and the change has been accepted by the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families and the Australian Plant Census.[8] The specific epithet (capillaris) is a Latin word meaning "of hair".[9]
Wahlenbergia capillaris is widespread in all mainland states and territories of Australia and is especially common in disturbed sites and along roadsides.