Isotoma anethifolia explained

Isotoma anethifolia is a small herbaceous plant in the family Campanulaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It has single, mostly white flowers in the leaf axils and slender stems.

Description

Isotoma anethifolia is an upright, perennial herb with wiry stems to high and may have either smooth or short soft hairs. The narrow leaves are egg-shaped to elliptic, long, wide, leaf edges pinnatisect and the undivided sections wide, each lobe about wide. The star-shaped flowers are mostly white with a light shading of mauve or pink and single in leaf axils. The floral tube is long, lobes are lance to oblong shaped, pointed and occasionally toothed. The bracts shed early, peduncles long and calyx lobes long. The seed capsule is elliptic to cone shaped and long. Flowering occurs in spring and summer.[1] [2]

Taxonomy and naming

This species was first formally described in 1932 by Victor Samuel Summerhayes and the description was published in the Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information, (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew).[3] [4] The specific epithet (anethifolia) is derived from the Latin anethum- meaning "anise" and -folius meaning "leaved".[5]

Distribution and habitat

In New South Wales this species grows north of Ebor, in moist, rocky, humus rich soils usually on granite.[1]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Wiecek . B. . Isotoma anethifolia . PlantNET- New South Wales Flora Online . Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney.
  2. Book: Greig . Denise . Field Guide to Australian Wildflowers . 1999 . New Holland . Sydney . 1864363347 . 166.
  3. Web site: Isotoma anethifolia. APNI. 10 April 2020.
  4. Summerhayes . Victor S. . Decades Kewensis. Plantarum novarum in Herbario Hortii Regii Conservatorum. Decas CXXVIII. . Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew) . 1932 . 1932 . 7 . 318 . 4113376 .
  5. Book: Francis Aubie Sharr. Western Australian Plant Names and their Meanings . 2019 . Four Gables Press . Kardinya, Western Australia . 9780958034180 . 133.