Boronia juncea explained

Boronia juncea is a plant in the citrus family, Rutaceae and is endemic to the far south-west of Western Australia. It is an erect shrub with linear, short-lived leaves and groups of up to eight white to pink, four-petalled flowers.

Description

Boronia juncea is an erect shrub that grows to a height of NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 with short-lived leaves. The lower leaves are linear, NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long and the upper leaves are more or less cylindrical and NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long. Between three and eight pink to white flowers are arranged in groups, each flower on a thin pedicel NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long. The four sepals are dark red, triangular to narrow egg-shaped and NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long. The four petals are mostly NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long. The eight stamens are hairless. Flowering occurs from October to December or from January to April.^[1]

Taxonomy and naming

Boronia juncea was first formally described in 1845 by Friedrich Gottlieb Bartling and the description was published in Plantae Preissianae.^{[2] [3]} The specific epithet (juncea) is a Latin word meaning "of rushes".^[4]

There are four subspecies intergrading with each other:

• Boronia juncea subsp. juncea^[5] has hairless pedicels and sepals;^[6]
• Boronia juncea subsp. laniflora^[7] has woolly sepals and petals, the sepals NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long;
• Boronia juncea subsp. micrantha^[8] has woolly sepals and petals, the sepals NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long with a sharply pointed tip;
• Boronia juncea subsp. minima^[9] has woolly sepals and petals, the sepals NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long with a tapered tip.

Distribution and habitat

Boronia juncea grows in winter-wet areas. Subspecies juncea is found between Bunbury and Mandurah, subspecies laniflora and micrantha between Mount Melville and Mount Elphinstone in Albany, and subspecies minima between Margaret River, Augusta and Northcliffe.

Conservation

Boronia juncea is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Duretto . Marco F. . Wilson . Paul G. . Ladiges . Pauline Y. . Boronia juncea . Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of the Environment and Energy, Canberra . 7 February 2019.
2. Web site: Boronia juncea. APNI. 7 February 2019.
3. Book: Lehmann . Johann Georg Christian (ed.) . Bartling . Friedrich Gottlieb . Plantae Preissianae (Volume 1, Part 2) . 1845 . Hamburg . 166 . 7 February 2019.
4. Book: Roland W. Brown. Brown. Roland Wilbur. The Composition of Scientific Words. 1956. Smithsonian Institution Press. Washington, D.C.. 692.
5. Web site: Boronia juncea subsp. juncea. APNI. 7 February 2019.
6. Wilson . Paul G. . New names and new taxa in the genus boronia (Rutaceae) from Western Australia, with notes on seed characters . Nuytsia . 1998 . 12 . 1 . 137–140 . 7 February 2019.
7. Web site: Boronia juncea subsp. laniflora. APNI. 7 February 2019.
8. Web site: Boronia juncea subsp. micrantha. APNI. 7 February 2019.
9. Web site: Boronia juncea subsp. minima. APNI. 7 February 2019.