Boronia floribunda explained

Boronia floribunda, commonly known as pale pink boronia, is a plant in the citrus family, Rutaceae and is endemic to near-coastal areas of eastern New South Wales. It is an erect, woody shrub with compound leaves and large numbers of white to pale pink, four-petalled flowers in spring and early summer.

Description

Boronia floribunda is an erect, woody shrub that grows to a height of NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1. The leaves have five, seven or nine narrow elliptic leaflets with the end leaflet the shortest. The leaflets are NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long and NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 wide. The leaf is NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long and NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 wide in outline with a petiole NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long. The flowers are usually white to pale pink, sometimes deep pink and are arranged in leaf axils, in groups of up to nine. The four sepals are triangular, about NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long and NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 wide. The four petals are NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long. The eight stamens have hairy tips so that the hairs form a raised ring when viewed from above. The stigma is distinctly swollen. Flowering mainly occurs from September to January and the fruit are glabrous, NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long and NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 wide.[1] [2]

Taxonomy and naming

Boronia floribunda was first formally described in 1825 by Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach from an unpublished manuscript by Franz Sieber and the description was published in Iconographia Botanica Exotica.[3] [4] The specific epithet (floribunda) a Latin word meaning "abounding in flowers" or "flowering profusely",[5] presumably alluding to a feature of this species.

Distribution and habitat

This boronia grows in heath and forest on sandstone in the Sydney region, including in Garigal, Ku-ring-gai Chase, Blue Mountains and Nattai National Parks.

Notes and References

  1. Duretto . Marco F. . Notes on Boronia (Rutaceae) in eastern and northern Australia . Muelleria . 2003 . 17 . 74–76 . 27 September 2021.
  2. Web site: Weston . Peter H. . Duretto . Marco F. . Boronia floribunda . Royal Botanic Garden Sydney . 1 February 2019.
  3. Web site: Boronia floribunda. APNI. 1 February 2019.
  4. Book: Sieber. Franz. Reichenbach. Ludwig. Iconographia Botanica Exotica. 1825. Friedrich Hofmeister. Leipzig. 52. 1 February 2019.
  5. Book: Brown. Roland Wilbur. The Composition of Scientific Words. 1956. Smithsonian Institution Press. Washington, D.C.. 338.