Commersonia corniculata explained

Commersonia corniculata is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae and is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. It is an erect to prostrate shrub with 3-lobed, egg-shaped leaves, and white to cream-coloured flowers.

Description

Commersonia corniculata is an erect to prostrate shrub that typically grows to high and wide and its new growth densely covered with white, star-shaped hairs. The leaves are egg-shaped, long and wide on a petiole long with stipules long at the base. The edges of the leaves have 3 lobes and sometimes a heart-shaped base and are rolled under, the lower surface densely covered with star-shaped hairs. The flowers are arranged in clusters of 5 to 15 up to long on a peduncle long, each flower in diameter on a pedicel long. The flowers have five white to cream-coloured, petal-like sepals, five white petals with a linear ligule about the same length as the sepals, and a single white staminode between each pair of stamens. Flowering occurs from August to December and the fruit is a spherical capsule in diameter.[1]

Taxonomy

Commersonia corniculata was first formally described as Lasiopetalum corniculatum in 1822 by the English botanist James Edward Smith, from material gathered at King George Sound by Archibald Menzies.[2] In 2018, Kelly Anne Shepherd and Carolyn Wilkins examined the material and determined that it matched the later described species, Commersonia cygnorum (described by Ernst Gottlieb von Steudel in 1845).[3] Since Lasiopetalum corniculatum is the first legitimate description of the plant, the name needed to be changed to Commersonia corniculata.[4]

The specific epithet (corniculata) means "corniculate", referring to the tips of the petals.[5]

Distribution and habitat

This species grows in woodland, heath and between granite boulders in near coastal areas south of Perth, from Busselton to Walpole-Nornalup National Park and near Esperance in the Avon Wheatbelt, Esperance Plains, Jarrah Forest, Swan Coastal Plain and Warren bioregions of south-western Western Australia.

Conservation status

Commersonia corniculata is listed as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Blake . Trevor L. . Lantern bushes of Australia ; Thomasias & allied genera : a field and horticultural guide . 2021 . Australian Plants Society, Keilor Plains Group . Victoria . 9780646839301 . 172–173.
  2. Smith, J.E . Rees, A.. 1822. Lasiopetalum. The Cyclopaedia . 20.
  3. Steudel, E.G. von . Lehmann, J.G.C.. 1845. Buttneriaceae. Plantae Preissianae. 1. 2. 237.
  4. Shepherd, Kelly Anne . Kelly Anne Shepherd. Wilkins, Carolyn F. . Carolyn F. Wilkins. Commersonia corniculata (Malvaceae), a new name for C. cygnorum. . Nuytsia . 2018 . 29 . 67–68 . 17 March 2023.
  5. Book: Sharr . Francis Aubi . George . Alex . Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings . 2019 . Four Gables Press . Kardinya, WA . 9780958034180 . 170 . 3rd.