Blue Dampiera

Dampiera stricta is an erect, slender, subshrub growing to about 90 cm (35 in) with ribbed, triangular, smooth or becoming smooth stems. The leaves are variable, mostly narrow-elliptic or lance-shaped, 16–50 mm (0.63–1.97 in) long, 2–20 mm (0.079–0.787 in) wide, margins smooth or toothed and sessile. The flowers are borne in leaf axils either singly or in pairs, up to 3 cm (1.2 in) long, pedicels 1–2 mm (0.039–0.079 in) long and the small linear bracts 2.5–3 mm (0.098–0.118 in) long. The corolla is 10–12 mm (0.39–0.47 in) long, blue to purple with a whitish centre, rusty coloured hairs on the outside, wings 2–2.7 mm (0.079–0.106 in) wide, upper petals smaller and the sepals 0.7–1.2 mm (0.028–0.047 in) long. Flowering occurs mainly from August to January and the fruit is a rounded oblong shape, 4–5 mm (0.16–0.20 in) long, ribbed and covered in rusty coloured hairs.

Blue dampiera is a common species usually growing in open forest and heath on sandy, gravel or loamy soils in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria on the Great Dividing Range and coastal locations.

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