Mesomelaena pseudostygia

Meaning of name: Mesomelaena is from the Greek words mesos, meaning middle, and melaino, meaning to turn black. It refers to the involucral bracts described as dark or black with pale hyaline margins. Pseudostygia is from the Greek words pseudo, meaning false, and stygios, meaning of the styx or nether world.

Distribution: Occurs from Kalbarri to Perth.

Description: A herb to 75 centimetres tall. Flowers are borne from April to June.

References: Western Australian Plant Names and their Meanings, a Glossary. FA Sharr. 1996.
Flora of the Perth Region. NG Marchant, JR Wheeler, BL Rye, EM Bennett, NS Lander, TD Macfarlane. 1987.

Why are there no photographs available for this plant?

The main reason why some plants don’t have photographs is because we haven’t found the plant yet. We have had a few flora surveys conducted and they have indicated that this plant can be found in the bush. The problem is that we just don’t know where in the bush to find it. And if we can’t find it, we can’t photograph it.

Another problem we have is that, while we have a name for the plant, we don’t know what it actually looks like. It’s very difficult to find a plant if you’re not sure what you’re looking for.

But rest assured that as soon as we have photographs for this plant we’ll put them on the website.