Cyanothamnus fabianoides explained

Cyanothamnus fabianoides is a plant in the citrus family, Rutaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a compact shrub with many branches, simple, more or less cylindrical leaves and single white, pink or pale blue four-petalled flowers in the leaf axils.

Description

Cyanothamnus fabianoides is a compact, multi-branched shrub that grows to a height of NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1. The leaves are simple, more or less cylindrical NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long with a channel on the upper surface and often bunched. The flowers are white, pink or pale blue and are borne singly in leaf axils on a fleshy pedicel NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long. The four sepals are fleshy, narrow triangular to egg-shaped and NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long. The four petals are broadly elliptic, NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and thickened- glandular along the mid-line. The eight stamens are hairy.[1] [2]

Taxonomy and naming

This boronia was first formally described in 1904 by Ludwig Diels who gave it the name Eriostemon fabianoides and published the description in Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie.[3] [4] The specific epithet (fabianoides) means "similar to a species of Fabiana".[5] In a 2013 paper in the journal Taxon, Marco Duretto and others changed the name to Cyanothamnus fabianoides on the basis of cladistic analysis.[6]

In 1998 Paul G. Wilson had described two subspecies.[7] The names have subsequently been changed to reflect the change in the genus name:

Distribution and habitat

Subspecies fabianoides grows in eucalypt woodland between Norseman and the Esperance area but subspecies rosea grows on hillslopes, around granite rocks and undulating plains between Lake King and the Fraser Range east of Norseman.

Conservation

Both subspecies of C. fabianoides are 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 . Yvonne Y. . Boronia fabianodes . Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of the Environment and Energy, Canberra . 11 March 2019.
  2. Book: Corrick . Margaret G. . Fuhrer . Bruce A. . Wildflowers of Southern Western Australia . 2009 . Rosenburg Publishing . Dural . 9781877058844 . 191.
  3. Web site: Eriostemon fabianoides. APNI. 11 March 2019.
  4. Diels . Ludwig . Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae occidentalis. Beitrage zur Kenntnis der Pflanzen Westaustraliens, ihrer Verbreitung und ihrer Lebensverhaltnisse . Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie . 1904 . 35 . 2–3 . 322 . 11 March 2019.
  5. Book: Sharr . Francis Aubi . George . Alex . Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings . 2019 . Four Gables Press . Kardinya, WA . 9780958034180 . 197 . 3rd.
  6. Duretto . Marco F. . Heslewood . Margaret M. . Bayly . Michael J. . Boronia (Rutaceae) is polyphyletic: Reinstating Cyanothamnus and the problems associated with inappropriately defined outgroups . Taxon . 2020 . 69 . 3 . 481–499 . 10.1002/tax.12242. 225836058 .
  7. Wilson . Paul G. . New names and new taxa in the genus Boronia(Myrtaceae) from Western Australia, with notes on seed characters . Nuytsia . 1998 . 12 . 1 . 150 . 12 March 2019.
  8. Web site: Cyanothamnus fabianoides subsp. roseus . Plants of the World Online . 21 September 2021.