Jacksonia cupulifera explained

Jacksonia cupulifera is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to the north-west of Western Australia. It is an erect shrub or weeping tree with sharply-pointed phylloclades, its leaves reduced to scales and yellow-orange flowers scattered along the branches.

Description

Jacksonia cupulifera is an erect shrub or weeping tree that typically grows up to high and wide. It has greyish green branches, the end branches sharply pointed phylloclades, its leaves reduced to scales, long and wide. The flowers are scattered along the branches, each flower on a pedicel long, with egg-shaped bracteoles long and wide but that usually fall off as the flowers open. The floral tube is long and the sepals are membraneous, with upper lobes long and wide, the lower lobes shorter and narrower. The flowers are yellow-orange, the standard petal long and wide, the wings long, and the keel long. The stamens have white and pale pink filaments and are long. Flowering occurs from July to October, and the fruit is a woody, hairy pod long and about wide.[1]

Taxonomy

Jacksonia cupulifera was first formally described in 1855 by Carl Meissner in his Botanische Zeitung from specimens collected by James Drummond.[2] [3] The specific epithet (cupulifera) means 'cup-bearing', referring to the base of the sepals when the tips have fallen.[4]

Distribution and habitat

This species of Jacksonia grows in shrubland on sand over laterite or sandstone, from the Kalbarri National Park to Walkaway in the Geraldton Sandplains bioregion in the north-west of Western Australia.

Conservation status

This species is listed as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.

Notes and References

  1. Chappill . Jennifer A. . Wilkins . Carolyn F. . Crisp . Michael D. . Taxonomic revision of Jacksonia (Leguminosae: Mirbelieae). . Australian Systematic Botany . 2007 . 20 . 6 . 542–544.
  2. Web site: Jacksonia cupulifera . Australian Plant Name Index . 6 October 2024.
  3. Meissner . Carl . Leguminosae quaedam Australasicae novae. . Botanische Zeitung . 1855 . 13 . 2 . 27 . 6 October 2024.
  4. Book: George . Alex . Sharr . Francis . Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings . 2021 . Four Gables Press . Kardinya, WA . 9780958034180 . 175 . 4th.