Cryptandra longistaminea explained

Cryptandra longistaminea is a species of flowering plant in the family Rhamnaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is a shrub with many branches, egg-shaped or elliptic to linear leaves, and clusters of white, tube-shaped flowers.

Description

Cryptandra longistaminea is a shrub that typically grows to a height of and has many branchlets long but that are not spiny. The leaves are egg-shaped or elliptic to linear, mostly long and wide on a petiole long. There are narrow triangular stipules long at the base of the petioles. The edges of the leaves are curved downwards, the upper surface glabrous, the lower surface densely covered with white, star-shaped hairs. The flowers are usually borne in clusters on smaller branches with brown, overlapping bracts long at the base. The floral tube is white to creamy-white, long, the lobes spreading, long and the petals white, protruding beyond the end of the floral tube, and hooded. Flowering occurs from June to September.[1] [2]

Taxonomy and naming

Cryptandra longistaminea was first formally described in 1862 by Ferdinand von Mueller in Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae from specimens collected near the Severn River.[3] [4] The specific epithet (longistaminea) means "long stamens".[5]

Distribution and habitat

This cryptandra mainly grows in open forest, south from about Gladstone in south-eastern Queensland to Grafton in New South Wales. It also occurs in scattered populations north from Gilgandra on the slopes and in mallee communities north of Hillston in inland New South Wales.

Notes and References

  1. Bean . Anthony R. . New species of Cryptandra Sm. and Stenanthemum Reissek (Rhamnaceae) from northern Australia. . Austrobaileya . 2004 . 6 . 4 . 926 . 1 January 2023.
  2. Web site: Harden . Gwen J. . Cryptandra longistaminea . Royal Botanic Garden Sydney . 1 January 2023.
  3. Web site: Cryptandra longistaminea . Australian Plant Name Index . 1 January 2023.
  4. Book: von Mueller . Ferdinand . Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae . 3 . 1862 . Victorian Government Printer . Melbourne . 64–65 . 2 January 2023.
  5. Book: Sharr . Francis Aubi . George . Alex . Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings . 2019 . Four Gables Press . Kardinya, WA . 9780958034180 . 243 . 3rd.