Hibbertia ericifolia explained

Hibbertia ericifolia is a species of flowering plant in the family Dilleniaceae and is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It is small, sometimes low-lying to spreading shrub with wiry stems, linear to narrow elliptic leaves, and yellow flowers arranged on the ends of branchlets, with ten to twenty-four stamens arranged around the three carpels.

Description

Hibbertia ericifolia is a shrub that typically grows to a height of up to with wiry stems up to long. The leaves are linear to narrow elliptic or oblong, long and wide on a petiole long. The flowers are arranged singly on the ends of branchlets and are more or less sessile, with up to three lance-shaped to spatula-shaped bracts at the base. The sepals are long and the five petals are yellow, egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base and long. There are between ten and twenty-four stamens arranged around the three carpels. each containing four ovules. Flowering mainly occurs from September to February.[1] [2]

Taxonomy

Hibbertia ericifolia was first formally described in 1855 by Joseph Dalton Hooker in The botany of the Antarctic voyage of H.M. Discovery ships Erebus and Terror from a specimen collected by Ronald Campbell Gunn.[3] [4] The specific epithet (ericifolia) means "Erica-leaved".[5]

Long considered conspecific with Hibbertia serpyllifolia after George Bentham combined the two in his Flora Australiensis, H. ericifolia is now recognised as distinct and is found in south-eastern Australia.[6]

Distribution and habitat

This hibbertia occurs on the coast and tablelands of New South Wales south from the Central Coast, in adjacent areas of Victoria, and on the tablelands of Tasmania. It usually grows on rocky soils, often in woodland.[7]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Messina . Andre . Stajsic . Val . Hibbertia ericifolia subsp. ericifolia . Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria . 3 June 2021.
  2. Toelken . Hellmut R. . Notes on Hibbertia subg. Hemistemma (Dilleniaceae) 9. The eastern Australian H. vestita group, including H. pedunculata and H. serpyllifolia. Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens . 1998 . 26 . 41–44 . 3 June 2021.
  3. Web site: Hibbertia ericifolia. APNI. 3 June 2021.
  4. Book: Hooker . Joseph Dalton . The botany of the Antarctic voyage of H.M. discovery ships Erebus and Terror in the Years 1839-1843 :under the command of Captain Sir James Clark Ross (Part III Flora Tasmaniae) . 1860 . Lovell Reeve . London . 14–15 . 3 June 2021.
  5. Book: Sharr . Francis Aubi . George . Alex . Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings . 2019 . Four Gables Press . Kardinya, WA . 9780958034180 . 193 . 3rd.
  6. Book: Bentham . George . von Mueller . Ferdinand . Flora Australiensis . 1862 . Lovell Reeve & Co. . London . 32 . 3 June 2021.
  7. Web site: Hibbertia ericifolia . Royal Botanic Garden Sydney . 3 June 2021.