Cyanothamnus nanus explained

Cyanothamnus nanus, commonly known as the dwarf boronia or small boronia is a plant in the citrus family Rutaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is a prostrate or low spreading shrub with simple or three-part leaves and white or pale pink four-petalled flowers.

Description

Cyanothamnus nanus is a prostrate shrub or one that has weak, spreading branches and grows to about 25sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide and 50sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 high. Its youngest branches have a few soft hairs but become glabrous as they age. The leaves are simple or trifoliate on a petiole up to 5sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long. The leaves or leaflets are linear to elliptic or egg-shaped, NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide. The flowers are white to pale pink and are arranged singly or in groups of up to three or more in leaf axils, the groups on a peduncle NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long, individual flowers on a pedicel NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1. The four sepals are triangular to broadly egg-shaped, NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide, overlapping at their bases. The four petals are NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long, NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide and overlap at their bases. The stamens are covered with long, soft hairs. Flowering occurs from October to February.[1] [2] [3]

Taxonomy and naming

Dwarf boronia was first formally described in 1840 by William Jackson Hooker who gave it the name Boronia nana in Icones Plantarum from a specimen collected by Ronald Campbell Gunn on top of Rocky Cape.[4] [5] In a 2013 paper in the journal Taxon, Marco Duretto and others changed the name to Cyanothamnus nanus on the basis of cladistic analysis.[6]

The names of three varieties have been accepted by Plants of the World Online:

Distribution and habitat

Notes and References

  1. Duretto . Marco F. . Notes on Boronia (Rutaceae) in eastern and northern Australia . Muelleria . 2003 . 17 . 45–51 . 2 January 2023.
  2. Web site: Duretto . Marco . Cyanothamnus nanus . Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria . 22 September 2021.
  3. Web site: Weston. Peter. Duretto. Marco. Boronia nana. Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney: plantnet. 23 January 2019.
  4. Web site: Boronia nana. APNI. 23 January 2019.
  5. Book: Hooker . William Jackson . Icones Plantarum . 1840 . Longman, Orme, Brown, Green and Longman . London . Tab. CCLXX . 23 January 2019.
  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.
  7. Web site: Cyanothamnus nanus var. hyssopifolius . Plants of the World Online . 22 September 2021.
  8. Web site: Boronia nana var. hyssopifolia . Royal Botanic Garden Sydney . 23 January 2019.
  9. Web site: Cyanothamnus nanus var. hyssopifolius . Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria . 22 September 2021.
  10. Web site: Cyanothamnus nanus var. nanus . Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria . 22 September 2021.
  11. Web site: Cyanothamnus nanus var. pubescens . Plants of the World Online . 22 September 2021.
  12. Web site: Cyanothamnus nanus var. pubescens . Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria . 22 September 2021.