Cryptandra ciliata explained

Cryptandra ciliata is a species of flowering plant in the family Rhamnaceae and is endemic to south-eastern Queensland. It is a shrub with clustered linear leaves and densely-hairy, white, tube-shaped flowers.

Description

Cryptandra ciliata is a shrub that typically grows to a height of up to, its branchlets hairy at first but soon glabrous. Its leaves are linear and clustered, mostly long and wide on a petiole long, with stipules long at the base. The upper surface of the leaves is glabrous and the edges are rolled under, usually obscuring most of the lower surface. The flowers are white and borne singly in leaf axils, sometimes forming clusters of up to 10 near the ends of branchlets, each flower with 7 to 10 bracts at the base. The floral tube is long, the sepals long and densely covered with both simple and star-shaped hairs. The petals are long, forming a hood over the stamens long. Flowering occurs from May to August, and the fruit is brown and long.[1] [2]

Taxonomy and naming

Cryptandra ciliata was first formally described in 2004 by Anthony Bean in the journal Austrobaileya from specimens collected near Cracow by Paul Irwin Forster in 1990.[3] The specific epithet (ciliata) means "fringed with fine hairs", referring to the bracts.

Distribution and habitat

This cryptandra grows in woodland on sandstone ridges and slopes from the Barakula State Forest to near Theodore in south-east Queensland.

Notes and References

  1. Bean . Anthony R. . New species of Cryptandra Sm. and Stenanthemum Reissek (Rhamnaceae) from northern Australia. . Austrobaileya . 2004 . 6 . 4 . 928 . 23 October 2022.
  2. Kellermann . Jürgen . Udovicic . Frank . A revision of the Cryptandra propinqua complex (Rhamnaceae: Pomaderreae). . Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales . 2007 . 128 . 97 . 23 October 2022.
  3. Web site: Cryptandra ciliata. APNI. 23 October 2022.