Slender Tailflower  |  

Anthocercis gracilis, Family Solanaceae, also known as Slender Tailflower, is an erect, spindly shrub growing to 60 cm tall. The slender ridged stems are circular in cross-section, with scattered leaves 3–27 mm long and 1–2 mm wide. The numerous pendulous, funnelshaped flowers are yellowish-white or yellowish-green in colour with purple stripes. The corolla is a small, globular bell, with five radiating narrow, pale yellow ‘tails’, 6–15 mm long, two of which are held at an acute angle and the other three at an obtuse angle to the bell. The flowers face downwards and enclose the stigma and anther. Flowering occurs from September to October, and in April. Slender Tailflower has a few leaves, but is almost leafless when flowering. The flowers are either solitary or in small cymes.