Hibbertia leptopus explained

Hibbertia leptopus is a species of flowering plant in the family Dilleniaceae and is endemic to Western Australia. It is an erect shrub with linear leaves and yellow flowers, usually with eleven stamens arranged around the three carpels.

Description

Hibbertia leptopus is a shrub that typically grows to a height of up to and has more or less glabrous foliage. The leaves are linear to narrow egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, long and wide and sessile. The flowers are arranged singly in leaf axils on a peduncle long with two brown, egg-shaped bracts long at the base. The five sepals are joined at the base, long, the outer sepals narrower than the inner sepals. The five petals are yellow, egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base and long with a deep notch at the tip. There are usually eleven stamens, some in small groups, arranged around the three glabrous carpels that each contain a single ovule.[1]

Taxonomy

Hibbertia leptopus was first formally described in 1863 George Bentham in Flora Australiensis from specimens collected in the Swan River Colony by James Drummond.[2] [3] The specific epithet (leptopus) means "slender foot", referring to the peduncles.[4]

Distribution and habitat

This hibbertia grows in woodland and heath from near Calingiri to near Goomalling in the Avon Wheatbelt and Jarrah Forest biogeographic regions in the south-west of Western Australia.

Conservation status

Hibbertia leptopus is classified as "Priority Two" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife meaning that it is poorly known and from only one or a few locations.[5]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Wheeler . Judith R. . Rediscovery and reinstatement of Hibbertia leptopus (Dilleniaceae), an overlooked and apparently rare species from Western Australia . Nuytsia . 2012 . 22 . 3 . 121–124 . 9 July 2021.
  2. Web site: Hibbertia leptopus. APNI. 9 July 2021.
  3. Book: Bentham . George . von Mueller . Ferdinand . Flora Australiensis . 1863 . Lovell Reeve & Co. . London . 41 . 10 July 2021.
  4. Book: Sharr . Francis Aubi . George . Alex . Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings . 2019 . Four Gables Press . Kardinya, WA . 9780958034180 . 239 . 3rd.
  5. Web site: Conservation codes for Western Australian Flora and Fauna. Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife. 9 July 2021.