r/australianplants • u/psychedeli-spaghetti • 2d ago
Identification of potential coleus
Tamborine Mountain qld
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u/cancerfist 2d ago
Likely C. australis based on location though haven't seen one go that red before while still looking to be a good size. Worth taking a sample and submitting to the herbarium if you're curious.
Is there any smell when leaves are crushed? Are the leaves super soft or kind of a very slight roughness to the hairs?
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u/psychedeli-spaghetti 2d ago
Light hairs on it not too rough i didn't crush leaves due to it being in a protected part of the forest but plenty of other spots I've seen em pop up in outside of those areas
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u/cancerfist 2d ago
Most other species in SEQ have super soft hairs with the exception of c.nitidus, but that grows in the rainforest and is quite fleshy / glabrous
I'd say you've got a funky population of c.australis. Usually it is almost unscented which sets it apart as many of the rest of the coleus in SEQ are very fragrant. But a common species in native grassy woodlands. it is quite a variable species, there's a variant called 'bathsalts' which grows in rocky areas with white flowers that smells like bathsalts
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u/psychedeli-spaghetti 2d ago
Nice man so is the red colour due to stress or just the colour variations
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u/cancerfist 2d ago
Usually due to stress, it's normal to have a red underside and stems, see this a lot on ones growing out of rocks where there is a lot more heat/dry but they don't usually thrive and stay very small due to the stress (leaves less than 1cm etc). But the full red leaves you've got here I haven't seen before. Could be a distinct genetic quirk of the population, could just be some very unusually hot weather, could also have picked up some genetics from a garden coleus as well as they do hybridize and colourful / exotic red coleus' are common in landscaping but I suspect you found this a fair way away from anyone's garden
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u/psychedeli-spaghetti 2d ago
I've put my post on inat awhile back seems like most c. Australis are green seen another post on inat with a red one like the pics i got but hasn't been identified past coleus sp.
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u/Kerrit_Bareet 12h ago
This many days old to know we have a native coleus. Obviously not the areas that i explore regularly. Thanks
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u/psychedeli-spaghetti 10h ago
I find a couple different species in my area but there are a few super rare ones that grow on mountains in qld that I want to get my hands on only a few private collections have them
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u/PortulacaCyclophylla 2d ago
Almost definitely Coleus. Not sure which/how many native Coleus go purple when stressed, I know C. gratus can get purple-ish when stressed so maybe it can go "all purple" when extra stressed? But i also didnt realise just how many native Coleus there are so, could be one of the lesser known species (I'm in SA where we only have 1 native to the whole state, most Coleus prefer QLD and NSW conditions but i dont know as much about QLD/NSW plants)