Scaevola linearis, commonly known as rough fanflower, is a species of flowering plant in the family Goodeniaceae and is endemic to South Australia. It is an erect to prostrate shrub with simple, and often glandular hairs, sessile, sometimes clustered, linear to narrowly elliptic leaves, blue flowers and elliptic to oval fruit.
Description Scaevola linearisis an erect to prostrate shrub that typically grows to a height of up to and has many woody stems with many branches covered with simple and glandular hairs. Its leaves are sometimes clustered, linear to narrowly elliptic, long and wide with the edges curved down or rolled under, sometimes with prominent silvery hairs in the leaf axils. The flowers are borne in leafy spikes up to long on the ends of branches or in leaf axils, with leafy bracts and elliptic bracteoles long and up to wide. The sepals are joined to form a tube with a wavy rim up to long, and the petals long and blue, hairy outside and bearded inside. The style is long and the ovary is elliptic and about long. The fruit is elliptic to oval, long with a single seed.
Taxonomy Scaevola linearis was first formally described in 1810 by Robert Brown in his Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen. The specific epithet (linearis) means 'linear', usually referring to the leaves.
In 1990, Roger Carolin described two subspecies of S. linearis, and the names are accepted by the Australian Plant Census: Scaevola linearis subsp. confertifolia (J.M.Black) Carolin (previously known as Scaevola linearis var. confertifolia J.M.Black) has leaves long, wide and clustered on very short side branches, egg-shaped bracteoles, petals long and flowers mainly from August to January. Scaevola linearis R.Br. subsp. linearis has leaves long, wide and not clustered, elliptic bracteoles long petals long, and flowers mainly from August to December.
Distribution Subspecies confertifolia occurs on the Yorke Peninsula, on the Mount Lofty Ranges and on Kangaroo Island and subsp. linearis occurs on the Eyre Peninsula and in the Gawler Ranges of South Australia.
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