Hop Goodenia - native (Goodenia ovata)

Family: Goodeniaceae (Goodenia family).

Native.

Rare, and probably now extinct near Castlemaine. It is common further south e.g. at Trentham.

Identification:

• it is a bushy shrub with oval toothed leaves
• the yellow flowers are not symmetrical radially - the upper and lower petals of different sizes.

In the late 1970s, Hop Goodenia was growing at Barkers Creek, north-east of the pine plantation, where it was growing with Victorian Christmas Bush (Prostanthra lasianthos) and Burgan. Subsequent searches have failed to locate any of these plants. They are unlikely to cope well with drought conditions.

Hop Goodenia is a favourite plant of mine. Many years ago (over 50 years), I was lent a copy of Ewart's Flora of Victoria, and decided to try to identify one of the locally common plants. I keyed it as out Hop Goodenia on the first try! Like my first golf shot, seldom repeated.